John 15-16

New American Standard Bible

Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches

15 “^(A)I am the true vine, and My Father is the ^(B)vinedresser. ²Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He ^[a]prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. ³^(C)You are already ^[b]clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴^(D)Remain in Me, ^[c]and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit ^[d]of itself ^[e]but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. ⁵I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him ^[f]^(E)bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in Me, he is ^(F)thrown away like a branch and dries up; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ^(G)ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸My ^(H)Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so ^[g]^(I)prove to be My disciples. ⁹Just as ^(J)the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. ¹⁰^(K)If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as ^(L)I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. ¹¹^(M)These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your ^(N)joy may be made full.

Disciples’ Relation to Each Other

¹²“This is ^(O)My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³^(P)Greater love has no one than this, that a person will ^(Q)lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are My ^(R)friends if ^(S)you do what I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because ^(T)all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶^(U)You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and ^(V)bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that ^(W)whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. ¹⁷This ^(X)I command you, that you love one another.

Disciples’ Relation to the World

¹⁸“^(Y)If the world hates you, ^[h]you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but ^(Z)I chose you out of the world, ^(AA)because of this the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said to you, ‘^(AB)A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, ^(AC)they will persecute you as well; if they ^(AD)followed My word, they will follow yours also. ²¹But all these things they will do to you ^(AE)on account of My name, ^(AF)because they do not know the One who sent Me. ²²^(AG)If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have ^[i]sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³The one who hates Me hates My Father also. ²⁴^(AH)If I had not done among them ^(AI)the works which no one else did, they would not have ^[j]sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. ²⁵But this has happened so that the word that is written in their ^(AJ)Law will be fulfilled: ‘^(AK)They hated Me for no reason.’

²⁶“When the ^[k]^(AL)Helper comes, ^(AM)whom I will send to you from the Father, namely, ^(AN)the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, ^(AO)He will testify about Me, ²⁷and ^[l]^(AP)you are testifying as well, because you have been with Me ^(AQ)from the beginning.

Jesus’ Warning

16 “^(AR)These things I have spoken to you so that you will not ^[m]be ^(AS)led into sin. ²They will ^[n]^(AT)ban you from the synagogue, yet ^(AU)an hour is coming for everyone ^(AV)who kills you to think that he is offering a ^[o]service to God. ³These things they will do ^(AW)because they have not known the Father nor Me. ⁴But these things I have spoken to you, ^(AX)so that when their hour comes, you ^[p]may remember that I told you of them. However, I did not say these things to you ^(AY)at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Holy Spirit Promised

⁵“But now ^(AZ)I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘^(BA)Where are You going?’ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, ^(BB)grief has filled your heart. ⁷But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the ^[q]^(BC)Helper will not come to you; but if I go, ^(BD)I will send Him to you. ⁸And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: ⁹regarding sin, ^(BE)because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰and regarding ^(BF)righteousness, because ^(BG)I am going to the Father and you no longer are going to see Me; ¹¹^(BH)and regarding judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time. ¹³But when He, ^(BI)the Spirit of truth, comes, He will ^(BJ)guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. ¹⁴He will ^(BK)glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. ¹⁵^(BL)All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you.

Jesus’ Death and Resurrection Foretold

¹⁶“^(BM)A little while, and ^(BN)you no longer are going to see Me; and again a little while, and ^(BO)you will see Me.” ¹⁷So some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He is telling us, ‘^(BP)A little while, and you are not going to see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because ^(BQ)I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” ¹⁹^(BR)Jesus knew that they wanted to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you are not going to see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? ²⁰Truly, truly I say to you that ^(BS)you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but ^(BT)your grief will be turned into joy! ²¹^(BU)Whenever a woman is in labor she has ^[r]pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a ^[s]child has been born into the world. ²²Therefore ^(BV)you too have grief now; but ^(BW)I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one is going to take your joy away from you.

Prayer Promises

²³And ^(BX)on that day ^(BY)you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, ^(BZ)if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. ²⁴^(CA)Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your ^(CB)joy may be made full.

²⁵“These things I have spoken to you in ^(CC)figures of speech; ^(CD)an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶^(CE)On that day ^(CF)you will ask in My name, and I am not saying to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; ²⁷for ^(CG)the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and ^(CH)have believed that ^(CI)I came forth from the Father. ²⁸^(CJ)I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and ^(CK)going to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples *said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and are not ^[t]using any ^(CL)figure of speech. ³⁰Now we know that You know all things, and that You have no need for anyone to question You; this is why we ^(CM)believe that You ^(CN)came forth from God.” ³¹Jesus replied to them, “Do you now believe? ³²Behold, ^(CO)an hour is coming, and has already come, for ^(CP)you to be scattered, each to ^(CQ)his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet ^(CR)I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³These things I have spoken to you so that ^(CS)in Me you may have peace. ^(CT)In the world you have tribulation, but ^(CU)take courage; ^(CV)I have overcome the world.”