John 16-18

Common English Bible

16 ¹ I have said these things to you so that you won’t fall away. ² They will expel you from the synagogue. The time is coming when those who kill you will think that they are doing a service to God. ³ They will do these things because they don’t know the Father or me. ⁴ But I have said these things to you so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.

I go away

“I didn’t say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵ But now I go away to the one who sent me. None of you ask me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Yet because I have said these things to you, you are filled with sorrow. ⁷ I assure you that it is better for you that I go away. If I don’t go away, the Companion^[a] won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will show the world it was wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. ⁹ He will show the world it was wrong about sin because they don’t believe in me. ¹⁰ He will show the world it was wrong about righteousness because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. ¹¹ He will show the world it was wrong about judgment because this world’s ruler stands condemned.

I still have many things to say

¹² “I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now. ¹³ However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you. ¹⁵ Everything that the Father has is mine. That’s why I said that the Spirit takes what is mine and will proclaim it to you. ¹⁶ Soon you won’t be able to see me; soon after that, you will see me.”

I will see you again

¹⁷ Some of Jesus’ disciples said to each other, “What does he mean: ‘Soon you won’t see me, and soon after that you will see me’ and ‘Because I’m going to the Father’? ¹⁸ What does he mean by ‘soon’? We don’t understand what he’s talking about.”

¹⁹ Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, so he said, “Are you trying to find out from each other what I meant when I said, ‘Soon you won’t see me, and soon after that you will see me’? ²⁰ I assure you that you will cry and lament, and the world will be happy. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. ²¹ When a woman gives birth, she has pain because her time has come. But when the child is born, she no longer remembers her distress because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. ²² In the same way, you have sorrow now; but I will see you again, and you will be overjoyed. No one takes away your joy. ²³ In that day, you won’t ask me anything. I assure you that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Up to now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive so that your joy will be complete.

I have conquered the world

²⁵ “I’ve been using figures of speech with you. The time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in such analogies. Instead, I will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I’m not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I left the Father and came into the world. I tell you again: I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said, “See! Now you speak plainly; you aren’t using figures of speech. ³⁰ Now we know that you know everything and you don’t need anyone to ask you. Because of this we believe you have come from God.”

³¹ Jesus replied, “Now you believe? ³² Look! A time is coming—and is here!—when each of you will be scattered to your own homes and you will leave me alone. I’m not really alone, for the Father is with me. ³³ I’ve said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world.”

Jesus prays

17 When Jesus finished saying these things, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son can glorify you. ² You gave him authority over everyone so that he could give eternal life to everyone you gave him. ³ This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. ⁴ I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I shared with you before the world was created.

⁶ “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

⁹ “I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them. ¹¹ I’m no longer in the world, but they are in the world, even as I’m coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are one. ¹² When I was with them, I watched over them in your name, the name you gave to me, and I kept them safe. None of them were lost, except the one who was destined for destruction, so that scripture would be fulfilled. ¹³ Now I’m coming to you and I say these things while I’m in the world so that they can share completely in my joy. ¹⁴ I gave your word to them and the world hated them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking that you take them out of this world but that you keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶ They don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world. ¹⁷ Make them holy in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ I made myself holy on their behalf so that they also would be made holy in the truth.

²⁰ “I’m not praying only for them but also for those who believe in me because of their word. ²¹ I pray they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. ²² I’ve given them the glory that you gave me so that they can be one just as we are one. ²³ I’m in them and you are in me so that they will be made perfectly one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you gave me to be with me where I am. Then they can see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, even the world didn’t know you, but I’ve known you, and these believers know that you sent me. ²⁶ I’ve made your name known to them and will continue to make it known so that your love for me will be in them, and I myself will be in them.”

Arrest in the garden

18 After he said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples and crossed over to the other side of the Kidron Valley. He and his disciples entered a garden there. ² Judas, his betrayer, also knew the place because Jesus often gathered there with his disciples. ³ Judas brought a company of soldiers^[b] and some guards from the chief priests and Pharisees. They came there carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons. ⁴ Jesus knew everything that was to happen to him, so he went out and asked, “Who are you looking for?”

⁵ They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

He said to them, “I Am.”^[c] (Judas, his betrayer, was standing with them.) ⁶ When he said, “I Am,” they shrank back and fell to the ground. ⁷ He asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”

They said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you, ‘I Am.’^[d] If you are looking for me, then let these people go.” ⁹ This was so that the word he had spoken might be fulfilled: “I didn’t lose anyone of those whom you gave me.”

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) ¹¹ Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword away! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me?” ¹² Then the company of soldiers, the commander, and the guards from the Jewish leaders took Jesus into custody. They bound him ¹³ and led him first to Annas. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. (¹⁴ Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was better for one person to die for the people.)

Peter denies Jesus

¹⁵ Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Because this other disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard. ¹⁶ However, Peter stood outside near the gate. Then the other disciple (the one known to the high priest) came out and spoke to the woman stationed at the gate, and she brought Peter in. ¹⁷ The servant woman stationed at the gate asked Peter, “Aren’t you one of this man’s disciples?”

“I’m not,” he replied. ¹⁸ The servants and the guards had made a fire because it was cold. They were standing around it, warming themselves. Peter joined them there, standing by the fire and warming himself.

Jesus testifies

¹⁹ Meanwhile, the chief priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. ²⁰ Jesus answered, “I’ve spoken openly to the world. I’ve always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews gather. I’ve said nothing in private. ²¹ Why ask me? Ask those who heard what I told them. They know what I said.”

²² After Jesus spoke, one of the guards standing there slapped Jesus in the face. “Is that how you would answer the high priest?” he asked.

²³ Jesus replied, “If I speak wrongly, testify about what was wrong. But if I speak correctly, why do you strike me?” ²⁴ Then Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter denies Jesus again

²⁵ Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing with the guards, warming himself. They asked, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?”

Peter denied it, saying, “I’m not.”

²⁶ A servant of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said to him, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” ²⁷ Peter denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.

Trial before Pilate

²⁸ The Jewish leaders led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s palace.^[e] It was early in the morning. So that they could eat the Passover, the Jewish leaders wouldn’t enter the palace; entering the palace would have made them ritually impure.

²⁹ So Pilate went out to them and asked, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

³⁰ They answered, “If he had done nothing wrong, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”

³¹ Pilate responded, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your Law.”

The Jewish leaders replied, “The Law doesn’t allow us to kill anyone.” (³² This was so that Jesus’ word might be fulfilled when he indicated how he was going to die.)

Pilate questions Jesus

³³ Pilate went back into the palace. He summoned Jesus and asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others spoken to you about me?”

³⁵ Pilate responded, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your nation and its chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶ Jesus replied, “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world. If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn’t have been arrested by the Jewish leaders. My kingdom isn’t from here.”

³⁷ “So you are a king?” Pilate said.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” Pilate asked.

Release of Barabbas

After Pilate said this, he returned to the Jewish leaders and said, “I find no grounds for any charge against him. ³⁹ You have a custom that I release one prisoner for you at Passover. Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?”

⁴⁰ They shouted, “Not this man! Give us Barabbas!” (Barabbas was an outlaw.)