Knox Bible

1

I have told you this, so that your faith may not be taken unawares.

2

They will forbid you the synagogue; nay, the time is coming when anyone who puts you to death will claim that he is performing an act of worship to God;

3

such things they will do to you, because they have no knowledge of the Father, or of me.

4

And I have told you this, so that when the time comes for it to happen, you may remember that I told you of it.

5

If I did not tell you of it from the first, it was because I was to be still in your company. Now, I am going back to him who sent me. None of you is asking me, Where is it thou art going?✻

6

so full are your hearts with sorrow at my telling you this.

7

And yet I can say truly that it is better for you I should go away; he who is to befriend you will not come to you unless I do go, but if only I make my way there, I will send him to you.

8

He will come, and it will be for him to prove the world wrong, about sin, and about rightness of heart, and about judging.

9

About sin; they have not found belief in me.

10

About rightness of heart; I am going back to my Father, and you are not to see me any more.

11

About judging; he who rules this world has had sentence passed on him already.✻

12

I have still much to say to you, but it is beyond your reach as yet.

13

It will be for him, the truth-giving Spirit, when he comes, to guide you into all truth. He will not utter a message of his own; he will utter the message that has been given to him; and he will make plain to you what is still to come.

14

And he will bring honour to me, because it is from me that he will derive what he makes plain to you.

15

I say that he will derive from me what he makes plain to you, because all that belongs to the Father belongs to me.✻

16

After a little while, you will see me no longer; and again after a little while you will have sight of me, because I am going back to the Father.

17

Upon this, some of his disciples said to one another, What does this mean, that he is saying to us, After a little while, you will see me no longer, and again after a little while you will have sight of me? And then, Because I am going back to my Father?

18

What is this little while he speaks of? they asked. We cannot understand what he means by it.

19

Jesus, knowing that they were eager to question him, said to them, You are wondering among yourselves over what I have been saying, After a little while you will see me no longer, and again after a little while you will have sight of me.✻

20

Believe me when I tell you this, you will weep and lament while the world rejoices; you will be distressed, but your distress shall be turned into joy.

21

A woman in childbirth feels distress, because now her time has come; but when she has borne her child, she does not remember the distress any longer, so glad is she that a man has been born into the world.

22

So it is with you, you are distressed now; but one day I will see you again, and then your hearts will be glad; and your gladness will be one which nobody can take away from you.

23

When that day comes, you will not need to ask anything of me. Believe me, you have only to make any request of the Father in my name, and he will grant it to you.✻

24

Until now, you have not been making any requests in my name; make them, and they will be granted, to bring you gladness in full measure.

25

I have been telling you this in parables; now comes the hour when I will talk to you in parables no longer, but tell you openly about the Father.

26

At the time I speak of, you will make your requests in my name; and there is no need for me to tell you that I will ask the Father to grant them to you,

27

because the Father himself is your friend, since you have become my friends, and have learned to believe that I came from God.

28

It was from the Father I came out, when I entered the world, and now I am leaving the world, and going on my way to the Father.

29

Hereupon his disciples said to him, Why, now thou art speaking openly enough; this is no parable thou art uttering.

30

Now we can be sure that thou knowest all things, not needing to wait till thou art asked; this gives us faith that thou wast sent by God.

31

You have faith now? Jesus answered.

32

Behold, the time is coming, nay, has already come, when you are to be scattered,✻ each of you taking his own path, and to leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

33

I have said this to you, so that in me you may find peace. In the world, you will only find tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world.