Chapters

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21

Old Testament

New Testament

John 17 The Message (MSG)

Jesus’ Prayer for His Followers

1-5. Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:Father, it’s time.Display the bright splendor of your SonSo the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.You put him in charge of everything humanSo he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.And this is the real and eternal life:That they know you,The one and only true God,And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.I glorified you on earthBy completing down to the last detailWhat you assigned me to do.And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,The very splendor I had in your presenceBefore there was a world.

6-12. I spelled out your character in detailTo the men and women you gave me.They were yours in the first place;Then you gave them to me,And they have now done what you said.They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,For the message you gave me, I gave them;And they took it, and were convincedThat I came from you.They believed that you sent me.I pray for them.I’m not praying for the God-rejecting worldBut for those you gave me,For they are yours by right.Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,And my life is on display in them.For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;They’ll continue in the worldWhile I return to you.Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this lifeThat you conferred as a gift through me,So they can be one heart and mindAs we are one heart and mind.As long as I was with them, I guarded themIn the pursuit of the life you gave through me;I even posted a night watch.And not one of them got away,Except for the rebel bent on destruction(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).

13-19. Now I’m returning to you.I’m saying these things in the world’s hearingSo my people can experienceMy joy completed in them.I gave them your word;The godless world hated them because of it,Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.I’m not asking that you take them out of the worldBut that you guard them from the Evil One.They are no more defined by the worldThan I am defined by the world.Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;Your word is consecrating truth.In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,I give them a mission in the world.I’m consecrating myself for their sakesSo they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

20-23. I’m praying not only for themBut also for those who will believe in meBecause of them and their witness about me.The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,So they might be one heart and mind with us.Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.The same glory you gave me, I gave them,So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—I in them and you in me.Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,And give the godless world evidenceThat you’ve sent me and loved themIn the same way you’ve loved me.

24-26. Father, I want those you gave meTo be with me, right where I am,So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,Having loved meLong before there ever was a world.Righteous Father, the world has never known you,But I have known you, and these disciples knowThat you sent me on this mission.I have made your very being known to them—Who you are and what you do—And continue to make it known,So that your love for meMight be in themExactly as I am in them.