²² Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.^(A)

³⁵ The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”^(A)

¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.^(A)

Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

¹⁶ “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.”^{(A) 17} Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me,’ and ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. ²¹ When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.^{(B) 22} So you have pain now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.^(C)

⁵ But now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’^{(A) 6} But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. ⁷ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate^[a] will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

³³ Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’^(A)

Jesus Foretells His Death

²¹ Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”^{(A) 22} Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are from this world, I am not from this world.^{(B) 24} I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”^[a](C)

³³ Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.^{(A) 34} You will search for me, but you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come.”^{(B) 35} The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?^{(C) 36} What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me, but you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.^(A)

¹¹ And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.^{(A) 12} While I was with them, I protected them in your name that^[a] you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost,^[b] so that the scripture might be fulfilled.^{(B) 13} But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.^[c]