John 17:6-24
English Standard Version
6 (A)“I have manifested your name to the people (B)whom you gave me out of the world. (C)Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything (D)that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them (E)the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that (F)I came from you; and (G)they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. (H)I am not praying for the world but for those (I)whom you have given me, for (J)they are yours. 10 (K)All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and (L)I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but (M)they are in the world, and (N)I am coming to you. (O)Holy Father, (P)keep them in your name, (Q)which you have given me, (R)that they may be one, (S)even as we are one. 12 (T)While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have (U)guarded them, and (V)not one of them has been lost except (W)the son of destruction, (X)that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now (Y)I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have (Z)my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 (AA)I have given them your word, and (AB)the world has hated them (AC)because they are not of the world, (AD)just as I am not of the world. 15 I (AE)do not ask that you (AF)take them out of the world, but that you (AG)keep them from (AH)the evil one.[a] 16 (AI)They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 (AJ)Sanctify them[b] in the truth; (AK)your word is truth. 18 (AL)As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And (AM)for their sake (AN)I consecrate myself,[c] that they also (AO)may be sanctified[d] in truth.
20 “I do not (AP)ask for these only, but also for those (AQ)who will believe in me through their word, 21 (AR)that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that (AS)they also may be in (AT)us, so that the world (AU)may believe that you have sent me. 22 (AV)The glory that you have given me (AW)I have given to them, (AX)that they may be one even as we are one, 23 (AY)I in them and you in me, (AZ)that they may become perfectly one, (BA)so that the world may know that you sent me and (BB)loved them even as (BC)you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be (BD)with me (BE)where I am, (BF)to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me (BG)before the foundation of the world.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- John 17:15 Or from evil
- John 17:17 Greek Set them apart (for holy service to God)
- John 17:19 Or I sanctify myself; or I set myself apart (for holy service to God)
- John 17:19 Greek may be set apart (for holy service to God)
John 17:6-26
The Message
6-12 I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.
They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.
For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;
They’ll continue in the world
While I return to you.
Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind
As we are one heart and mind.
As long as I was with them, I guarded them
In the pursuit of the life you gave through me;
I even posted a lookout.
And not one of them got away,
Except for the rebel bent on destruction
(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).
* * *
13-19 Now I’m returning to you.
I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.
I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,
Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.
I’m not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I’m consecrating myself for their sakes
So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.
* * *
20-23 I’m praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them
In the same way you’ve loved me.
* * *
24-26 Father, I want those you gave me
To be with me, right where I am,
So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,
Having loved me
Long before there ever was a world.
Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
But I have known you, and these disciples know
That you sent me on this mission.
I have made your very being known to them—
Who you are and what you do—
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for me
Might be in them
Exactly as I am in them.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson