John 16:16-33

Your Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

16 ¹“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and ²again a little while, and you will see me. ”

17 So ³some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ⁴‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ⁵‘because I am going to the Father’? ”

18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by‘a little while’? ⁶We do not know what he is talking about. ”

19 ⁷Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’?

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, ⁸you will weep and lament, but ⁹the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but ¹⁰your sorrow will turn into joy.

21 ¹¹When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

22 ¹²So also you have sorrow now, but ¹³I will see you again, and ¹⁴your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

23 ¹⁵In that day you will ¹⁶ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, ¹⁷whatever you ask of the Father in my name, ¹⁸he will give it to you.

24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. ¹⁹Ask, and you will receive, ²⁰that your joy may be full.

I Have Overcome the World

25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. ²¹The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.

26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf;

27 ²²for the Father himself loves you, because ²³you have loved me and ²⁴have believed that I came from God. ^[a]

28 ²⁵I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now ²⁶I am leaving the world and going to the Father. ”

29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not ²⁷using figurative speech!

30 Now we know that ²⁸you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that ²⁹you came from God. ”

31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

32 Behold, ³⁰the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when ³¹you will be scattered, each to his own home, and ³²will leave me alone. ³³Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.

33 I have said these things to you, that ³⁴in me you may have peace. ³⁵In the world you will have ³⁶tribulation. But ³⁷take heart; ³⁸I have overcome the world. ”

Cross References

• 1. 16:16 See ch. 7:33
• 2. 16:16 [ver. 22]
• 3. 16:17 [Mark 9:10, 32]
• 4. 16:17 ver. 16
• 5. 16:17 ver. 10
• 6. 16:18 [ch. 14:5]
• 7. 16:19 [ver. 30]; See ch. 2:24, 25
• 8. 16:20 Matt. 9:15; Mark 16:10; Luke 23:27
• 9. 16:20 [Rev. 11:10]
• 10. 16:20 Jer. 31:13; See Matt. 5:4
• 11. 16:21 Isa. 26:17; [Ps. 48:6; Isa. 13:8; 1 Thess. 5:3; Rev. 12:2]
• 12. 16:22 ver. 6; [2 Cor. 6:10]
• 13. 16:22 [ver. 16]
• 14. 16:22 Ps. 33:21; Isa. 66:14; Luke 24:52; Acts 2:46; 8:8, 39; 13:52
• 15. 16:23 ver. 26; ch. 14:20
• 16. 16:23 ver. 19, 30
• 17. 16:23 See ch. 14:13
• 18. 16:23 ch. 15:16; [Eph. 1:3]
• 19. 16:24 See Matt. 7:7
• 20. 16:24 See ch. 15:11
• 21. 16:25 ver. 2
• 22. 16:27 [ch. 14:21, 23; 17:23]
• 23. 16:27 ch. 21:15-17; [1 Cor. 16:22]
• 24. 16:27 ver. 30; ch. 17:8
• 25. 16:28 ch. 8:14; 13:3
• 26. 16:28 See ch. 14:12
• 27. 16:29 ver. 25
• 28. 16:30 ch. 21:17; See ch. 2:24, 25
• 29. 16:30 [ver. 27, 28; ch. 3:2]
• 30. 16:32 [ch. 4:21, 23]
• 31. 16:32 Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:27
• 32. 16:32 [Isa. 63:5]
• 33. 16:32 See ch. 8:16, 29
• 34. 16:33 See ch. 14:27; Col. 3:15
• 35. 16:33 [ch. 15:18-21]
• 36. 16:33 Rev. 1:9; See Acts 14:22
• 37. 16:33 ch. 14:1, 27
• 38. 16:33 [Rom. 8:37; 1 John 4:4; 5:4, 5; Rev. 3:21; 12:11]

Footnotes

• [a] 16:27 Some manuscripts 'from the Father'