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

Psalm 78

New International Version

Psalm 78

A maskil^[a] of Asaph.

¹My people, hear my teaching;^(A)
    listen to the words of my mouth.
²I will open my mouth with a parable;^(B)
    I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
³things we have heard and known,
    things our ancestors have told us.^(C)
⁴We will not hide them from their descendants;^(D)
    we will tell the next generation^(E)
the praiseworthy deeds^(F) of the Lord,
    his power, and the wonders^(G) he has done.
⁵He decreed statutes^(H) for Jacob^(I)
    and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
    to teach their children,
⁶so the next generation would know them,
    even the children yet to be born,^(J)
    and they in turn would tell their children.
⁷Then they would put their trust in God
    and would not forget^(K) his deeds
    but would keep his commands.^(L)
⁸They would not be like their ancestors^(M)—
    a stubborn^(N) and rebellious^(O) generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
    whose spirits were not faithful to him.

⁹The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,^(P)
    turned back on the day of battle;^(Q)
¹⁰they did not keep God’s covenant^(R)
    and refused to live by his law.^(S)
¹¹They forgot what he had done,^(T)
    the wonders he had shown them.
¹²He did miracles^(U) in the sight of their ancestors
    in the land of Egypt,^(V) in the region of Zoan.^(W)
¹³He divided the sea^(X) and led them through;
    he made the water stand up like a wall.^(Y)
¹⁴He guided them with the cloud by day
    and with light from the fire all night.^(Z)
¹⁵He split the rocks^(AA) in the wilderness
    and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
¹⁶he brought streams out of a rocky crag
    and made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷But they continued to sin^(AB) against him,
    rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
¹⁸They willfully put God to the test^(AC)
    by demanding the food they craved.^(AD)
¹⁹They spoke against God;^(AE)
    they said, “Can God really
    spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰True, he struck the rock,
    and water gushed out,^(AF)
    streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?
    Can he supply meat^(AG) for his people?”
²¹When the Lord heard them, he was furious;
    his fire broke out^(AH) against Jacob,
    and his wrath rose against Israel,
²²for they did not believe in God
    or trust^(AI) in his deliverance.
²³Yet he gave a command to the skies above
    and opened the doors of the heavens;^(AJ)
²⁴he rained down manna^(AK) for the people to eat,
    he gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵Human beings ate the bread of angels;
    he sent them all the food they could eat.
²⁶He let loose the east wind^(AL) from the heavens
    and by his power made the south wind blow.
²⁷He rained meat down on them like dust,
    birds^(AM) like sand on the seashore.
²⁸He made them come down inside their camp,
    all around their tents.
²⁹They ate till they were gorged—^(AN)
    he had given them what they craved.
³⁰But before they turned from what they craved,
    even while the food was still in their mouths,^(AO)
³¹God’s anger rose against them;
    he put to death the sturdiest^(AP) among them,
    cutting down the young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;^(AQ)
    in spite of his wonders,^(AR) they did not believe.^(AS)
³³So he ended their days in futility^(AT)
    and their years in terror.
³⁴Whenever God slew them, they would seek^(AU) him;
    they eagerly turned to him again.
³⁵They remembered that God was their Rock,^(AV)
    that God Most High was their Redeemer.^(AW)
³⁶But then they would flatter him with their mouths,^(AX)
    lying to him with their tongues;
³⁷their hearts were not loyal^(AY) to him,
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸Yet he was merciful;^(AZ)
    he forgave^(BA) their iniquities^(BB)
    and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger^(BC)
    and did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh,^(BD)
    a passing breeze^(BE) that does not return.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled^(BF) against him in the wilderness^(BG)
    and grieved him^(BH) in the wasteland!
⁴¹Again and again they put God to the test;^(BI)
    they vexed the Holy One of Israel.^(BJ)
⁴²They did not remember^(BK) his power—
    the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,^(BL)
⁴³the day he displayed his signs^(BM) in Egypt,
    his wonders^(BN) in the region of Zoan.
⁴⁴He turned their river into blood;^(BO)
    they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵He sent swarms of flies^(BP) that devoured them,
    and frogs^(BQ) that devastated them.
⁴⁶He gave their crops to the grasshopper,^(BR)
    their produce to the locust.^(BS)
⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail^(BT)
    and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
⁴⁸He gave over their cattle to the hail,
    their livestock^(BU) to bolts of lightning.
⁴⁹He unleashed against them his hot anger,^(BV)
    his wrath, indignation and hostility—
    a band of destroying angels.^(BW)
⁵⁰He prepared a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death
    but gave them over to the plague.
⁵¹He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,^(BX)
    the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.^(BY)
⁵²But he brought his people out like a flock;^(BZ)
    he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
⁵³He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
    but the sea engulfed^(CA) their enemies.^(CB)
⁵⁴And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
    to the hill country his right hand^(CC) had taken.
⁵⁵He drove out nations^(CD) before them
    and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;^(CE)
    he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

⁵⁶But they put God to the test
    and rebelled against the Most High;
    they did not keep his statutes.
⁵⁷Like their ancestors^(CF) they were disloyal and faithless,
    as unreliable as a faulty bow.^(CG)
⁵⁸They angered him^(CH) with their high places;^(CI)
    they aroused his jealousy with their idols.^(CJ)
⁵⁹When God heard^(CK) them, he was furious;^(CL)
    he rejected Israel^(CM) completely.
⁶⁰He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,^(CN)
    the tent he had set up among humans.^(CO)
⁶¹He sent the ark of his might^(CP) into captivity,^(CQ)
    his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
⁶²He gave his people over to the sword;^(CR)
    he was furious with his inheritance.^(CS)
⁶³Fire consumed^(CT) their young men,
    and their young women had no wedding songs;^(CU)
⁶⁴their priests were put to the sword,^(CV)
    and their widows could not weep.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,^(CW)
    as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
⁶⁶He beat back his enemies;
    he put them to everlasting shame.^(CX)
⁶⁷Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;^(CY)
⁶⁸but he chose the tribe of Judah,^(CZ)
    Mount Zion,^(DA) which he loved.
⁶⁹He built his sanctuary^(DB) like the heights,
    like the earth that he established forever.
⁷⁰He chose David^(DC) his servant
    and took him from the sheep pens;
⁷¹from tending the sheep^(DD) he brought him
    to be the shepherd^(DE) of his people Jacob,
    of Israel his inheritance.
⁷²And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;^(DF)
    with skillful hands he led them.