John 16

¹I have spoken these things to you so that you will not fall away. ²They will expel you from the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think they are offering sacred service to God. ³And they will do these things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴But I have spoken these things to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, "Where are you going?" ⁶Rather, because I have spoken these things to you, grief has filled your heart.

⁷But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will expose the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment: ⁹concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; ¹¹and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³But when he comes—that one, the Spirit of truth—he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will announce to you the things that are coming. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and announce it to you. ¹⁵Everything that the Father has is mine. This is why I said that he takes from what is mine and will announce it to you.

¹⁶A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while and you will see me.

¹⁷So some of his disciples said to one another, "What does this mean that he is saying to us: 'A little while and you do not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,' and, 'Because I am going to the Father'?" ¹⁸They were saying, "What is this 'little while' he is talking about? We do not know what he is saying."

¹⁹Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, and he said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about this—that I said, 'A little while and you do not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? ²⁰Amen, amen, I tell you: you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be grieved, but your grief will become joy. ²¹A woman, when she is giving birth, has grief because her hour has come. But when she has delivered the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²²So you also now have grief. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

²³And on that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, amen, I tell you: whatever you ask the Father, he will give you in my name. ²⁴Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

²⁵I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I will announce to you plainly about the Father. ²⁶On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will petition the Father on your behalf, ²⁷for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. ²⁸I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.

²⁹His disciples said, "Look, now you are speaking plainly and not using any figure of speech. ³⁰Now we know that you know all things and have no need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God."

³¹Jesus answered them, "Do you believe now? ³²Look, an hour is coming—and has come—when you will be scattered, each to his own, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. ³³I have spoken these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction, but take courage: I have conquered the world."