³³ Little children, I shall be with you a ^(A)little while longer. You will seek Me; ^(B)and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you.

³³ Then Jesus said ^[a]to them, ^(A)“I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I ^(B)go to Him who sent Me. ³⁴ You ^(C)will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you ^(D)cannot come.”

The Test of Knowing Christ

2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, ^(A)we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Sorrow Will Turn to Joy

¹⁶ “A ^(A)little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, ^(B)because I go to the Father.”

¹⁷ Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not ^[a]know what He is saying.”

¹⁹ Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? ²⁰ Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and ^(C)lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into ^(D)joy. ^21 (E)A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and ^(F)your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

Jesus Predicts His Departure

²¹ Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and ^(A)you will seek Me, and ^(B)will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”

²² So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?”

²³ And He said to them, ^(C)“You are from beneath; I am from above. ^(D)You are of this world; I am not of this world. ^24 (E)Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; ^(F)for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”