I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

14 ^(A)“Let not your hearts be troubled. ^(B)Believe in God;^[a] believe also in me. ² In ^(C)my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that ^(D)I go to prepare a place for you?^{[b] 3} And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you ^(E)to myself, that ^(F)where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”^{[c] 5 (G)}Thomas said to him, “Lord, ^(H)we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am ^(I)the way, and ^(J)the truth, and ^(K)the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ^7 (L)If you had known me, you would have ^(M)known my Father also.^[d] From now on you do know him and ^(N)have seen him.”

^8 (O)Philip said to him, “Lord, ^(P)show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? ^(Q)Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that ^(R)I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you ^(S)I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that ^(T)I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else ^(U)believe on account of the works themselves.

¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(V)whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I ^(W)am going to the Father. ^13 (X)Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that ^(Y)the Father may be glorified in the Son. ^14 (Z)If you ask me^[e] anything in my name, I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

^15 (AA)“If you love me, you will ^(AB)keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another ^(AC)Helper,^[f] to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even ^(AD)the Spirit of truth, ^(AE)whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and ^(AF)will be^[g] in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; ^(AG)I will come to you. ^19 (AH)Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but ^(AI)you will see me. ^(AJ)Because I live, you also will live. ^20 (AK)In that day you will know that ^(AL)I am in my Father, and ^(AM)you in me, and ^(AN)I in you. ^21 (AO)Whoever has my commandments and ^(AP)keeps them, he it is who loves me. And ^(AQ)he who loves me ^(AR)will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and ^(AS)manifest myself to him.” ^22 (AT)Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it ^(AU)that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered him, ^(AV)“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and ^(AW)we will come to him and ^(AX)make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And ^(AY)the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the ^(AZ)Helper, the Holy Spirit, ^(BA)whom the Father will send in my name, ^(BB)he will teach you all things and ^(BC)bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ^27 (BD)Peace I leave with you; ^(BE)my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. ^(BF)Let not your hearts be troubled, neither ^(BG)let them be afraid. ^28 (BH)You heard me say to you, ^(BI)‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I ^(BJ)am going to the Father, for ^(BK)the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ And ^(BL)now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for ^(BM)the ruler of this world is coming. ^(BN)He has no claim on me, ³¹ but I do ^(BO)as the Father has commanded me, ^(BP)so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

I Am the True Vine

15 “I am the ^(BQ)true vine, and my Father is ^(BR)the vinedresser. ^2 (BS)Every branch in me that does not bear fruit ^(BT)he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, ^(BU)that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already ^(BV)you are clean ^(BW)because of the word that I have spoken to you. ^4 (BX)Abide ^(BY)in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; ^(BZ)you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that ^(CA)bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me ^(CB)he is thrown away like a branch and withers; ^(CC)and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If ^(CD)you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ^(CE)ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ^8 (CF)By this my Father is glorified, that you ^(CG)bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ^9 (CH)As the Father has loved me, ^(CI)so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ^10 (CJ)If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as ^(CK)I have kept ^(CL)my Father's commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, ^(CM)that my joy may be in you, and that ^(CN)your joy may be full.

^12 (CO)“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ^13 (CP)Greater love has no one than this, ^(CQ)that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are ^(CR)my friends ^(CS)if you do what I command you. ^15 (CT)No longer do I call you servants,^[h] for the servant ^(CU)does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for ^(CV)all that I have heard from my Father ^(CW)I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but ^(CX)I chose you and appointed you that you should go and ^(CY)bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that ^(CZ)whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, ^(DA)so that you will love one another.

The Hatred of the World

^18 (DB)“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ^19 (DC)If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because ^(DD)you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ^(DE)‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, ^(DF)they will also persecute you. ^(DG)If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ But ^(DH)all these things they will do to you ^(DI)on account of my name, ^(DJ)because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, ^(DK)they would not have been guilty of sin,^[i] but now they have no excuse for their sin. ^23 (DL)Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ^24 (DM)If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, ^(DN)they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have ^(DO)seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But ^(DP)the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ^(DQ)‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶ “But ^(DR)when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, ^(DS)he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And ^(DT)you also will bear witness, ^(DU)because you have been with me ^(DV)from the beginning.

Esther Saves the Jews

8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, ^(A)the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told ^(B)what he was to her. ^2 (C)And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³ Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman ^(D)the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. ^4 (E)When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. ⁵ And she said, “If it please the king, ^(F)and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke ^(G)the letters devised by Haman ^(H)the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. ⁶ For how can I bear ^(I)to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” ⁷ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, ^(J)I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows,^[a] because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. ⁸ But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, ^(K)and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring ^(L)cannot be revoked.”

^9 (M)The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to ^(N)the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces ^(O)from India to Ethiopia, ^(P)127 provinces, ^(Q)to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. ^10 (R)And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus ^(S)and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on ^(T)swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud, ¹¹ saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city ^(U)to gather and defend their lives, ^(V)to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, ^(W)and to plunder their goods, ^12 (X)on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. ^13 (Y)A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. ¹⁴ So the couriers, mounted on their ^(Z)swift horses that were used in the king's service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king's command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.

¹⁵ Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king ^(AA)in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown^[b] and ^(AB)a robe of fine linen and purple, ^(AC)and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. ¹⁶ The Jews had ^(AD)light and gladness and joy and honor. ¹⁷ And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and ^(AE)a holiday. ^(AF)And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, ^(AG)for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever