John 16:2-22

New International Version

² They will put you out of the synagogue;^(A) in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.^{(B) 3} They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.^{(C) 4} I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember^(D) that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,^{(E) 5} but now I am going to him who sent me.^(F) None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’^{(G) 6} Rather, you are filled with grief^(H) because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate^(I) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.^{(J) 8} When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin,^(K) because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness,^(L) because I am going to the Father,^(M) where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world^(N) now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.^{(O) 13} But when he, the Spirit of truth,^(P) comes, he will guide you into all the truth.^(Q) He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine.^(R) That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The Disciples’ Grief Will Turn to Joy

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while^(S) you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”^(T)

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’^(U) and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”^{(V) 18} They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn^(W) while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.^{(X) 21} A woman giving birth to a child has pain^(Y) because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief,^(Z) but I will see you again^(AA) and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.^(AB)