Chronological
Jesus Comforts His Followers
14 Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. And trust in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back. Then I will take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”[a]
5 Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. So how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way. And I am the truth and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. 7 If you really knew me, then you would know my Father, too. But now you do know him, and you have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.”
9 Jesus answered, “I have been with you a long time now. Do you still not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So why do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you don’t come from me. The Father lives in me, and he is doing his own work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or believe because of the miracles I have done. 12 I tell you the truth. He who believes in me will do the same things that I do. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. 13 And if you ask for anything in my name, I will do it for you. Then the Father’s glory will be shown through the Son. 14 If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will do the things I command. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper.[b] He will give you this Helper to be with you forever. 17 The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it does not see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you and he will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you all alone like orphans. I will come back to you. 19 In a little while the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live, too. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father. You will know that you are in me and I am in you. 21 He who knows my commands and obeys them is the one who loves me. And my Father will love him who loves me. I will love him and will show myself to him.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you plan to show yourself to us, but not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, then he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me does not obey my teaching. This teaching that you hear is not really mine. It is from my Father, who sent me.
25 “I have told you all these things while I am with you. 26 But the Helper will teach you everything. He will cause you to remember all the things I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.
27 “I leave you peace. My peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled. Don’t be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going, but I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you should be happy that I am going back to the Father because he is greater than I am. 29 I have told you this now, before it happens. Then when it happens, you will believe. 30 I will not talk with you much longer. The ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me. 31 But the world must know that I love the Father. So I do exactly what the Father told me to do.
“Come now, let us go.
Jesus Is Like a Vine
15 “I am the true vine; my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. And he trims and cleans every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the words I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can produce fruit alone. It must remain in the vine. It is the same with you. You cannot produce fruit alone. You must remain in me.
5 “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If a person remains in me and I remain in him, then he produces much fruit. But without me he can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, then he is like a branch that is thrown away. That branch dies. People pick up dead branches, throw them into the fire, and burn them. 7 Remain in me and follow my teachings. If you do this, then you can ask for anything you want, and it will be given to you. 8 You should produce much fruit and show that you are my followers. This brings glory to my Father. 9 I loved you as the Father loved me. Now remain in my love. 10 I have obeyed my Father’s commands, and I remain in his love. In the same way, if you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. 11 I have told you these things so that you can have the same joy I have. I want your joy to be the fullest joy.
12 “This is my command: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I don’t call you servants now. A servant does not know what his master is doing. But now I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me; I chose you. And I gave you this work, to go and produce fruit. I want you to produce fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Jesus Warns His Followers
18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, then it would love you as it loves its own. But I have chosen you out of the world. So you don’t belong to it. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: A servant is not greater than his master. If people did wrong to me, they will do wrong to you, too. And if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours, too. 21 They will do all this to you because of me. They don’t know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me also hates my Father. 24 I did works among them that no one else has ever done. If I had not done those works, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen what I did, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that what is written in their law would be true: ‘They hated me for no reason.’[c]
26 “I will send you the Helper[d] from the Father. He is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will tell about me. 27 And you also must tell people about me because you have been with me from the beginning.
16 “I have told you these things to keep you from giving up. 2 People will put you out of their synagogues. Yes, the time is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. 3 They will do this because they have not known the Father and they have not known me. 4 I have told you these things now. So when the time comes, you will remember that I warned you.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
“I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you then. 5 Now I am going back to the One who sent me. But none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Your hearts are filled with sadness because I have told you these things. 7 But I tell you the truth. It is better for you that I go away. When I go away I will send the Helper[e] to you. If I do not go away, then the Helper will not come. 8 When the Helper comes, he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment. 9 He will prove to them about sin, because they don’t believe in me. 10 He will prove to them that I am right with God, because I am going to the Father. You will not see me anymore. 11 And the Helper will prove to them the truth about judgment, because the ruler of this world is already judged.
12 “I have many more things to say to you, but they are too much for you now. 13 But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words. He will speak only what he hears and will tell you what is to come. 14 The Spirit of truth will bring glory to me. He will take what I have to say and tell it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take what I have to say and tell it to you.
Sadness Will Become Happiness
16 “After a little while you will not see me. And then after a little while you will see me again.”
17 Some of the followers said to each other, “What does Jesus mean when he says, ‘After a little while you will not see me, and then after a little while you will see me again’? And what does he mean when he says, ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They also asked, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
19 Jesus saw that the followers wanted to ask him about this. So Jesus said to the followers, “Are you asking each other what I meant when I said, ‘After a little while you will not see me. And then after a little while you will see me again’? 20 I tell you the truth. You will cry and be sad, but the world will be happy. You will be sad, but your sadness will become joy. 21 When a woman gives birth to a baby, she has pain, because her time has come. But when her baby is born, she forgets the pain. She forgets because she is so happy that a child has been born into the world. 22 It is the same with you. Now you are sad. But I will see you again and you will be happy. And no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will not ask me for anything. I tell you the truth. My Father will give you anything you ask for in my name. 24 You have never asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive. And your joy will be the fullest joy.
Victory over the World
25 “I have told you these things, using words that hide the meaning. But the time will come when I will not use words like that to tell you things. I will speak to you in plain words about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask the Father for things in my name. I am saying that I will not need to ask the Father for you. 27 No! The Father himself loves you. He loves you because you have loved me. And he loves you because you have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
29 Then the followers of Jesus said, “You are speaking clearly to us now. You are not using words that are hard to understand. 30 We can see now that you know all things. You can answer a person’s question even before he asks it. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
31 Jesus answered, “So now you believe? 32 Listen to me. A time is coming when you will be scattered. Each of you will be scattered to your own home. That time is now here. You will leave me. I will be alone. But I am never really alone. Why? Because the Father is with me.
33 “I told you these things so that you can have peace in me. In this world you will have trouble. But be brave! I have defeated the world!”
Jesus Prays for His Followers
17 After Jesus said these things he looked toward heaven. Jesus prayed, “Father, the time has come. Give glory to your Son so that the Son can give glory to you. 2 You gave the Son power over all people so that the Son could give eternal life to all those people you have given to him. 3 And this is eternal life: that men can know you, the only true God, and that men can know Jesus Christ, the One you sent. 4 I finished the work you gave me to do. I brought you glory on earth. 5 And now, Father, give me glory with you. Give me the glory I had with you before the world was made.
6 “You gave me some men from the world. I have shown them what you are like. Those men belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your teaching. 7 Now they know that everything you gave me comes from you. 8 I gave these men the teachings that you gave me. They accepted those teachings. They know that I truly came from you. 9 I pray for them now. I am not praying for the people in the world. But I am praying for those men you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And my glory is shown through these men. 11 Now I am coming to you. I will not stay in the world now. But these men are still in the world. Holy Father, keep them safe. Keep them safe by the power of your name (the name you gave me), so that they will be one, the same as you and I are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them safe. I kept them safe by the power of your name—the name you gave me. I protected them. And only one of them, the one who is going to hell, was lost. He was lost so that what was said in the Scripture would happen.
13 “I am coming to you now. But I pray these things while I am still in the world. I say these things so that these men can have my joy. I want them to have all of my joy. 14 I have given them your teaching. And the world has hated them. The world hated these men, because they don’t belong to the world, the same as I don’t belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world. But I am asking that you keep them safe from the Evil One. 16 They don’t belong to the world, the same as I don’t belong to the world. 17 Make them ready for your service through your truth. Your teaching is truth. 18 I have sent them into the world, the same as you sent me into the world. 19 I am making myself ready to serve. I do this for them so that they can truly be ready for your service.
20 “I pray for these men. But I am also praying for all people who will believe in me because of the teaching of these men. 21 Father, I pray that all people who believe in me can be one. You are in me and I am in you. I pray that these people can also be one in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 22 I have given these people the glory that you gave me. I gave them this glory so that they can be one, the same as you and I are one. 23 I will be in them and you will be in me. So they will be completely one. Then the world will know that you sent me. And the world will know that you loved these people the same as you loved me.
24 “Father, I want these people that you have given me to be with me in every place I am. I want them to see my glory. This is the glory you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. 25 Father, you are the One who is good. The world does not know you, but I know you. And these people know that you sent me. 26 I showed them what you are like. And again I will show them what you are like. Then they will have the same love that you have for me. And I will live in them.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.