John 14-16

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

14 Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.

² In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places (homes). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a place for you.

³ And when (if) I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.

⁴ And [to the place] where I am going, you know the way.

⁵ Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?

⁶ Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.

⁷ If you had known Me [had learned to recognize Me], you would also have known My Father. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him.

⁸ Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father [cause us to see the Father—that is all we ask]; then we shall be satisfied.

⁹ Jesus replied, Have I been with all of you for so long a time, and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Philip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say then, Show us the Father?

¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What I am telling you I do not say on My own authority and of My own accord; but the Father Who lives continually in Me does the (^[a]His) works (His own miracles, deeds of power).

¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the [very] works themselves. [If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father’s name convince you.]

¹² I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.

¹³ And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name [as ^[b]presenting all that I Am], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son.^(A)

¹⁴ [Yes] I will grant [I Myself will do for you] whatever you shall ask in My Name [as ^[c]presenting all that I Am].

¹⁵ If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands.

¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever—

¹⁷ The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.

¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless]; I will come [back] to you.

¹⁹ Just a little while now, and the world will not see Me any more, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.

²⁰ At that time [when that day comes] you will know [for yourselves] that I am in My Father, and you [are] in Me, and I [am] in you.

²¹ The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]

²² Judas, not Iscariot, asked Him, Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself [make Yourself real] to us and not to the world?

²³ Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.

²⁴ Anyone who does not [really] love Me does not observe and obey My teaching. And the teaching which you hear and heed is not Mine, but [comes] from the Father Who sent Me.

²⁵ I have told you these things while I am still with you.

²⁶ But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

²⁸ You heard Me tell you, I am going away and I am coming [back] to you. If you [really] loved Me, you would have been glad, because I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater and mightier than I am.

²⁹ And now I have told you [this] before it occurs, so that when it does take place you may believe and have faith in and rely on Me.

³⁰ I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me.]

³¹ But [^[d]Satan is coming and] I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know (be convinced) that I love the Father and that I do only what the Father has instructed Me to do. [I act in full agreement with His orders.] Rise, let us go away from here.

15 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.

² Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.

³ You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].

⁴ Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.

⁵ I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

⁶ If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.

⁷ If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

⁸ When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.

⁹ I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [^[e]continue in His love with Me].

¹⁰ If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love.

¹¹ I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.

¹² This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you.

¹³ No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.

¹⁴ You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.

¹⁵ I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]

¹⁶ You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as ^[f]presenting all that I Am], He may give it to you.

¹⁷ This is what I command you: that you love one another.

¹⁸ If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you.

¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would treat you with affection and would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world [no longer one with it], but I have chosen (selected) you out of the world, the world hates (detests) you.

²⁰ Remember that I told you, A servant is not greater than his master [is not superior to him]. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word and obeyed My teachings, they will also keep and obey yours.

²¹ But they will do all this to you [inflict all this suffering on you] because of [your bearing] My name and on My account, for they do not know or understand the One Who sent Me.

²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin [would be blameless]; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³ Whoever hates Me also hates My Father.

²⁴ If I had not done (accomplished) among them the works which no one else ever did, they would not be guilty of sin. But [the fact is] now they have both seen [these works] and have hated both Me and My Father.

²⁵ But [this is so] that the word written in their Law might be fulfilled, They hated Me without a cause.^(B)

²⁶ But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will testify regarding Me.

²⁷ But you also will testify and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

16 I have told you all these things, so that you should not be offended (taken unawares and falter, or be caused to stumble and fall away). [I told you to keep you from being scandalized and repelled.]

² They will put you out of (expel you from) the synagogues; but an hour is coming when whoever kills you will think and claim that he has offered service to God.

³ And they will do this because they have not known the Father or Me.

⁴ But I have told you these things now, so that when they occur you will remember that I told you of them. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.

⁵ But now I am going to Him Who sent Me, yet none of you asks Me, Where are You going?

⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts [taken complete possession of them].

⁷ However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you].

⁸ And when He comes, He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God) and about judgment:

⁹ About sin, because they do not believe in Me [trust in, rely on, and adhere to Me];

¹⁰ About righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God), because I go to My Father, and you will see Me no longer;

¹¹ About judgment, because the ruler (evil genius, prince) of this world [Satan] is judged and condemned and sentence already is passed upon him.

¹² I have still many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them or to take them upon you or to grasp them now.

¹³ But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].

¹⁴ He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.

¹⁵ Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He [the Spirit] will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.

¹⁶ In a little while you will no longer see Me, and again after a short while you will see Me.

¹⁷ So some of His disciples questioned among themselves, What does He mean when He tells us, In a little while you will no longer see Me, and again after a short while you will see Me, and, Because I go to My Father?

¹⁸ What does He mean by a little while? We do not know or understand what He is talking about.

¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, Are you wondering and inquiring among yourselves what I meant when I said, In a little while you will no longer see Me, and again after a short while you will see Me?

²⁰ I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that you shall weep and grieve, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

²¹ A woman, when she gives birth to a child, has grief (anguish, agony) because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she no longer remembers her pain (trouble, anguish) because she is so glad that a man (a child, a human being) has been born into the world.

²² So for the present you are also in sorrow (in distress and depressed); but I will see you again and [then] your hearts will rejoice, and no one can take from you your joy (gladness, delight).

²³ And when that time comes, you will ask nothing of Me [you will need to ask Me no questions]. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name [as ^[g]presenting all that I Am].^(C)

²⁴ Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as ^[h]presenting all that I Am]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.

²⁵ I have told you these things in parables (veiled language, allegories, dark sayings); the hour is now coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I shall tell you about the Father in plain words and openly (without reserve).

²⁶ At that time you will ask (pray) in My Name; and I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf [for it will be unnecessary].

²⁷ For the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from the Father.

²⁸ I came out from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.

²⁹ His disciples said, Ah, now You are speaking plainly to us and not in parables (veiled language and figures of speech)!

³⁰ Now we know that You are acquainted with everything and have no need to be asked questions. Because of this we believe that you [really] came from God.

³¹ Jesus answered them, Do you now believe? [Do you believe it at last?]

³² But take notice, the hour is coming, and it has arrived, when you will all be dispersed and scattered, every man to his own home, leaving Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

³³ I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]