The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer.
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I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more.
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Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.
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Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
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Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing.
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I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.
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If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.
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If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 This is how my Father shows who he is - when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
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Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love.
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As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done - kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love.
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If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 "I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature.
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These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.
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This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.
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Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends when you do the things I command you.
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Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.
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Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 "You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
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Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 "But remember the root command: Love one another.
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These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 "If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me.
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If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If you lived on the world's terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God's terms and no longer on the world's terms, the world is going to hate you.
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If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 "When that happens, remember this: Servants don't get better treatment than their masters. If they beat on me, they will certainly beat on you. If they did what I told them, they will do what you tell them.
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Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 "They are going to do all these things to you because of the way they treated me, because they don't know the One who sent me.
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But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I hadn't come and told them all this in plain language, it wouldn't be so bad. As it is, they have no excuse.
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If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
23 Hate me, hate my Father - it's all the same.
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He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24 If I hadn't done what I have done among them, works no one has ever done, they wouldn't be to blame. But they saw the God-signs and hated anyway, both me and my Father.
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If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 Interesting - they have verified the truth of their own Scriptures where it is written, 'They hated me for no good reason.'
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But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26 "When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes - the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father - he will confirm everything about me.
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But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27 You, too, from your side must give your confirming evidence, since you are in this with me from the start.
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And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.