John 16:17-29

¹⁷Then some of Jesus’ disciples said among themselves, “What does He mean by, ‘In a little while, and you won’t see me; and in a little while longer, you will see me, again;’ and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”

¹⁸They kept asking, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what He is saying.”

¹⁹Now Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you asking yourselves about what I said, ‘In a little while, and you won’t see me; and in a little while longer, you will see me, again’?

²⁰Most assuredly, I tell you that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will be sad, but your sadness will be turned into joy.

²¹A woman in labor is in pain because her time has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the baby, she forgets the agony, for joy that a child has been born into the world.

²²Therefore you have sorrow now, too, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and nobody will take your joy away from you.

²³“In that day you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.

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

²⁵“I’ve told you these things in figures of speech, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.

²⁶In that day you will ask in my name. I don’t tell you that I’ll ask the Father for you,

²⁷because the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God.

²⁸I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and not in figures of speech!