John 16

Persecution Foretold

¹“ I have spoken these things to you so that you should not fall away. ²They will put you out of the synagogues; but an hour is coming that everyone having killed you will think he is offering a service to God. ³And they will do these things because they do not know the Father nor Me. ⁴But I have said these things to you so that when their hour might have come, you may remember that I said them to you. Now I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

⁵But now I am going away to the One having sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷But I say to you the truth, it is profitable for you that I should go away. For unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

⁸And having come, He will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment: ⁹concerning sin indeed, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰and concerning righteousness, because I am going away to the Father and you see Me no longer; ¹¹and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²I still have many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them now. ¹³But when He, the Spirit of truth, shall come, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He may hear, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things coming. ¹⁴He will glorify Me, for He will take from that which is Mine and will declare it to you. ¹⁵All things, as many as the Father has, are Mine. Because of this, I said that He will take from that which is Mine and will declare it to you.

¹⁶A little while and you see Me no longer; and again a little while and you will look on Me.”

Grief Will Turn to Joy

¹⁷Therefore some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while and you do not see Me; and again a little while and you will look on Me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸Therefore they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”

¹⁹Jesus knew that they were wanting to ask Him, and He said to them, “Do you inquire among one another concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while and you do not see Me, and again a little while and you will look on Me’? ²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and will lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be grieved, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹The woman has pain when she is giving birth, because her hour has come; but when she brings forth the child, she remembers the tribulation no longer, because of the joy that a man has been born into the world. ²²Therefore you also indeed have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Ask in My Name

²³And in that day you will ask of Me nothing. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you may ask the Father in My name, He will give you. ²⁴Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.

²⁵I have spoken these things to you in allegories; an hour is coming when I will speak to you no more in allegories, but I will report to you plainly concerning the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will implore the Father for you. 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 leave the world and go to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples say, “Behold, now You speak in openness, and You do not speak allegory. ³⁰Now we know that You know all things and have no need that anyone should ask You. In this we believe that You came forth from God.”

³¹Jesus answered them, “Now do you believe? ³²Behold, an hour is coming and has come when you shall be scattered, each to his own, and Me you shall leave alone. Yet I am not alone, for 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 tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”