John 15

New International Version

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am^(A) the true vine,^(B) and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,^(C) while every branch that does bear fruit^(D) he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.^(E) ⁴Remain in me, as I also remain in you.^(F) No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;^(G) apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.^(H) ⁷If you remain in me^(I) and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.^(J) ⁸This is to my Father’s glory,^(K) that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.^(L)

⁹“As the Father has loved me,^(M) so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commands,^(N) you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.^(O) ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.^(P) ¹³Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.^(Q) ¹⁴You are my friends^(R) if you do what I command.^(S) ¹⁵I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.^(T) ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you^(U) so that you might go and bear fruit^(V)—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.^(W) ¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.^(X)

The World Hates the Disciples

¹⁸“If the world hates you,^(Y) keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you^(Z) out of the world. That is why the world hates you.^(AA) ²⁰Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’^[b]^(AB) If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.^(AC) If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹They will treat you this way because of my name,^(AD) for they do not know the one who sent me.^(AE) ²²If I had not come and spoken to them,^(AF) they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.^(AG) ²³Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works no one else did,^(AH) they would not be guilty of sin.^(AI) As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law:^(AJ) ‘They hated me without reason.’^[c]^(AK)

The Work of the Holy Spirit

²⁶“When the Advocate^(AL) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father^(AM)—the Spirit of truth^(AN) who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.^(AO) ²⁷And you also must testify,^(AP) for you have been with me from the beginning.^(AQ)

Footnotes

John 15:2 The Greek for he prunes also means he cleans.
John 15:20 John 13:16
John 15:25 Psalms 35:19; 69:4

Isaiah 5

New International Version

The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:^(A)
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
²He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.^(B)
He built a watchtower^(C) in it
    and cut out a winepress^(D) as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.^(E)

³“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.^(F)
⁴What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?^(G)
When I looked for good grapes,
    why did it yield only bad?^(H)
⁵Now I will tell you
    what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
    and it will be destroyed;^(I)
I will break down its wall,^(J)
    and it will be trampled.^(K)
⁶I will make it a wasteland,^(L)
    neither pruned nor cultivated,
    and briers and thorns^(M) will grow there.
I will command the clouds
    not to rain^(N) on it.”

⁷The vineyard^(O) of the Lord Almighty
    is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice,^(P) but saw bloodshed;
    for righteousness,^(Q) but heard cries of distress.^(R)

Woes and Judgments

⁸Woe^(S) to you who add house to house
and join field to field^(T)
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land.

⁹The Lord Almighty^(U) has declared in my hearing:^(V)

“Surely the great houses will become desolate,^(W)
the fine mansions left without occupants.
¹⁰A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath^[a] of wine;
a homer^[b] of seed will yield only an ephah^[c] of grain.”^(X)

¹¹Woe^(Y) to those who rise early in the morning
    to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
    till they are inflamed with wine.^(Z)
¹²They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
    pipes^(AA) and timbrels^(AB) and wine,
but they have no regard^(AC) for the deeds of the Lord,
    no respect for the work of his hands.^(AD)
¹³Therefore my people will go into exile^(AE)
    for lack of understanding;^(AF)
those of high rank^(AG) will die of hunger
    and the common people will be parched with thirst.^(AH)
¹⁴Therefore Death^(AI) expands its jaws,
    opening wide its mouth;^(AJ)
into it will descend their nobles and masses
    with all their brawlers and revelers.^(AK)
¹⁵So people will be brought low^(AL)
    and everyone humbled,^(AM)
    the eyes of the arrogant^(AN) humbled.
¹⁶But the Lord Almighty will be exalted^(AO) by his justice,^(AP)
    and the holy God will be proved holy^(AQ) by his righteous acts.
¹⁷Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;^(AR)
    lambs will feed^[d] among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe^(AS) to those who draw sin along with cords^(AT) of deceit,
    and wickedness^(AU) as with cart ropes,
¹⁹to those who say, “Let God hurry;
    let him hasten^(AV) his work
    so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy One^(AW) of Israel—
    let it approach, let it come into view,
    so we may know it.”^(AX)

²⁰Woe^(AY) to those who call evil good^(AZ)
    and good evil,^(BA)
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,^(BB)
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.^(BC)

²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes^(BD)
and clever in their own sight.

²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine^(BE)
    and champions at mixing drinks,^(BF)
²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe,^(BG)
    but deny justice^(BH) to the innocent.^(BI)
²⁴Therefore, as tongues of fire^(BJ) lick up straw^(BK)
    and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay^(BL)
    and their flowers blow away like dust;^(BM)
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
    and spurned the word^(BN) of the Holy One^(BO) of Israel.
²⁵Therefore the Lord’s anger^(BP) burns against his people;
    his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,^(BQ)
    and the dead bodies^(BR) are like refuse^(BS) in the streets.^(BT)

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,^(BU)
his hand is still upraised.^(BV)

²⁶He lifts up a banner^(BW) for the distant nations,
    he whistles^(BX) for those at the ends of the earth.^(BY)
Here they come,
    swiftly and speedily!
²⁷Not one of them grows tired^(BZ) or stumbles,
    not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt^(CA) is loosened at the waist,^(CB)
    not a sandal strap is broken.^(CC)
²⁸Their arrows are sharp,^(CD)
    all their bows^(CE) are strung;
their horses’ hooves^(CF) seem like flint,
    their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.^(CG)
²⁹Their roar is like that of the lion,^(CH)
    they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize^(CI) their prey
    and carry it off with no one to rescue.^(CJ)
³⁰In that day^(CK) they will roar over it
    like the roaring of the sea.^(CL)
And if one looks at the land,
    there is only darkness^(CM) and distress;^(CN)
    even the sun will be darkened^(CO) by clouds.