Yohanes 12:8

12:8 For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me!” ¹ 

Yohanes 13:33

13:33 Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, ²  and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ³  ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ ⁴  now I tell you the same. ⁵ 

Yohanes 14:3-4

14:3 And if I go and make ready ⁶  a place for you, I will come again and take you ⁷  to be with me, ⁸  so that where I am you may be too. 14:4 And you know the way where I am going.” ⁹ 

Yohanes 16:4-7

16:4 But I have told you these things ¹⁰  so that when their time ¹¹  comes, you will remember that I told you about them. ¹² 

“I did not tell you these things from the beginning because I was with you. ¹³  16:5 But now I am going to the one who sent me, ¹⁴  and not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’ ¹⁵  16:6 Instead your hearts are filled with sadness ¹⁶  because I have said these things to you. 16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate ¹⁷  will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

Yohanes 16:16-22

16:16 In a little while you ¹⁸  will see me no longer; again after a little while, you ¹⁹  will see me.” ²⁰ 

16:17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, ²¹  ‘In a little while you ²²  will not see me; again after a little while, you ²³  will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ²⁴  16:18 So they kept on repeating, ²⁵  “What is the meaning of what he says, ²⁶  ‘In a little while’? ²⁷  We do not understand ²⁸  what he is talking about.” ²⁹ 

16:19 Jesus could see ³⁰  that they wanted to ask him about these things, ³¹  so ³²  he said to them, “Are you asking ³³  each other about this – that I said, ‘In a little while you ³⁴  will not see me; again after a little while, you ³⁵  will see me’? 16:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ³⁶  you will weep ³⁷  and wail, ³⁸  but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, ³⁹  but your sadness will turn into ⁴⁰  joy. 16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ⁴¹  because her time ⁴²  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ⁴³  has been born into the world. ⁴⁴  16:22 So also you have sorrow ⁴⁵  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ⁴⁶ 

[12:8]  ¹ tc A few isolated witnesses omit v. 8 (D sy^s), part of v. 8 (Ì⁷⁵), or vv. 7-8 ({0250}). The latter two omissions are surely due to errors of sight, while the former can be attributed to D’s sometimes erratic behavior. The verse is secure in light of the overwhelming evidence on its behalf.

[12:8]  tn In the Greek text of this clause, “me” is in emphatic position (the first word in the clause). To convey some impression of the emphasis, an exclamation point is used in the translation.

[13:33]  ² tn Or “You will seek me.”

[13:33]  ³ tn Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem in general, or to the Jewish religious leaders in particular, who had sent servants to attempt to arrest Jesus on that occasion (John 7:33-35). The last option is the one adopted in the translation above.

[13:33]  ⁴ sn See John 7:33-34.

[13:33]  ⁵ tn The words “the same” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[14:3]  ⁶ tn Or “prepare.”

[14:3]  ⁷ tn Or “bring you.”

[14:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “to myself.”

[14:4]  ⁹ tc Most mss (Ì^66* A C³ D Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy sa) read “You know where I am going, and you know the way” (καὶ ὅπου [ἐγὼ] ὑπάγω οἴδατε καὶ τὴν ὁδόν οἴδατε, kai {opou egw Jupagw oidate kai thn Jodon oidate). The difference between this reading and the wording in NA²⁷ (supported by Ì^66c א B C* L Q W 33 579 pc) is the addition of καί before τὴν ὁδόν and οἴδατε after. Either assertion on the part of Jesus would be understandable: “you know the way where I am going” or “you know where I am going and you know the way,” although the shorter reading is a bit more awkward syntactically. In light of this, and in light of the expansion already at hand in v. 5, the longer reading appears to be a motivated reading. The shorter reading is thus preferred because of its superior external and internal evidence.

[14:4]  sn Where I am going. Jesus had spoken of his destination previously to the disciples, most recently in John 13:33. Where he was going was back to the Father, and they could not follow him there, but later he would return for them and they could join him then. The way he was going was via the cross. This he had also mentioned previously (e.g., 12:32) although his disciples did not understand at the time (cf. 12:33). As Jesus would explain in v. 6, although for him the way back to the Father was via the cross, for his disciples the “way” to where he was going was Jesus himself.

[16:4]  ¹⁰ tn The first half of v. 4 resumes the statement of 16:1, ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν (tauta lelalhka Jumin), in a somewhat more positive fashion, omitting the reference to the disciples being caused to stumble.

[16:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “their hour.”

[16:4]  ¹² tn The words “about them” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[16:4]  ¹³ sn This verse serves as a transition between the preceding discussion of the persecutions the disciples will face in the world after the departure of Jesus, and the following discussion concerning the departure of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit-Paraclete. Jesus had not told the disciples these things from the beginning because he was with them.

[16:5]  ¹⁴ sn Now the theme of Jesus’ impending departure is resumed (I am going to the one who sent me). It will also be mentioned in 16:10, 17, and 28. Jesus had said to his opponents in 7:33 that he was going to the one who sent him; in 13:33 he had spoken of going where the disciples could not come. At that point Peter had inquired where he was going, but it appears that Peter did not understand Jesus’ reply at that time and did not persist in further questioning. In 14:5 Thomas had asked Jesus where he was going.

[16:5]  ¹⁵ sn Now none of the disciples asks Jesus where he is going, and the reason is given in the following verse: They have been overcome with sadness as a result of the predictions of coming persecution that Jesus has just spoken to them in 15:18-25 and 16:1-4a. Their shock at Jesus’ revelation of coming persecution is so great that none of them thinks to ask him where it is that he is going.

[16:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “distress” or “grief.”

[16:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in John 14:16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[16:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

[16:16]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

[16:16]  ²⁰ sn The phrase after a little while, you will see me is sometimes taken to refer to the coming of the Holy Spirit after Jesus departs, but (as at 14:19) it is much more probable that it refers to the postresurrection appearances of Jesus to the disciples. There is no indication in the context that the disciples will see Jesus only with “spiritual” sight, as would be the case if the coming of the Spirit is in view.

[16:17]  ²¹ tn Grk “What is this that he is saying to us.”

[16:17]  ²² tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

[16:17]  ²³ tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

[16:17]  ²⁴ sn These fragmentary quotations of Jesus’ statements are from 16:16 and 16:10, and indicate that the disciples heard only part of what Jesus had to say to them on this occasion.

[16:18]  ²⁵ tn Grk “they kept on saying.”

[16:18]  ²⁶ tn Grk “What is this that he says.”

[16:18]  ²⁷ tn Grk “A little while.” Although the phrase τὸ μικρόν (to mikron) in John 16:18 could be translated simply “a little while,” it was translated “in a little while” to maintain the connection to John 16:16, where it has the latter meaning in context.

[16:18]  ²⁸ tn Or “we do not know.”

[16:18]  ²⁹ tn Grk “what he is speaking.”

[16:19]  ³⁰ tn Grk “knew.”

[16:19]  sn Jesus could see. Supernatural knowledge of what the disciples were thinking is not necessarily in view here. Given the disciples’ confused statements in the preceding verses, it was probably obvious to Jesus that they wanted to ask what he meant.

[16:19]  ³¹ tn The words “about these things” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:19]  ³² tn Καί (kai) has been translated as “so” here to indicate the following statement is a result of Jesus’ observation in v. 19a.

[16:19]  ³³ tn Grk “inquiring” or “seeking.”

[16:19]  ³⁴ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

[16:19]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

[16:20]  ³⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:20]  ³⁷ tn Or “wail,” “cry.”

[16:20]  ³⁸ tn Or “lament.”

[16:20]  ³⁹ tn Or “sorrowful.”

[16:20]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “will become.”

[16:21]  ⁴¹ sn The same word translated distress here has been translated sadness in the previous verse (a wordplay that is not exactly reproducible in English).

[16:21]  ⁴² tn Grk “her hour.”

[16:21]  ⁴³ tn Grk “that a man” (but in a generic sense, referring to a human being).

[16:21]  ⁴⁴ sn Jesus now compares the situation of the disciples to a woman in childbirth. Just as the woman in the delivery of her child experiences real pain and anguish (has distress), so the disciples will also undergo real anguish at the crucifixion of Jesus. But once the child has been born, the mother’s anguish is turned into joy, and she forgets the past suffering. The same will be true of the disciples, who after Jesus’ resurrection and reappearance to them will forget the anguish they suffered at his death on account of their joy.

[16:22]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “distress.”

[16:22]  ⁴⁶ sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.” The change from “you will see [me]” to I will see you places more emphasis on Jesus as the one who reinitiates the relationship with the disciples after his resurrection, but v. 16 (you will see me) is more like Isa 66:14. Further support for seeing this allusion as intentional is found in Isa 66:7, which uses the same imagery of the woman giving birth found in John 16:21. In the context of Isa 66 the passages refer to the institution of the messianic kingdom, and in fact the last clause of 66:14 along with the following verses (15-17) have yet to be fulfilled. This is part of the tension of present and future eschatological fulfillment that runs throughout the NT, by virtue of the fact that there are two advents. Some prophecies are fulfilled or partially fulfilled at the first advent, while other prophecies or parts of prophecies await fulfillment at the second.