John 16:16-17

16:16 In a little while you ¹  will see me no longer; again after a little while, you ²  will see me.” ³ 

16:17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, ⁴  ‘In a little while you ⁵  will not see me; again after a little while, you ⁶  will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ⁷ 

John 16:19

16:19 Jesus could see ⁸  that they wanted to ask him about these things, ⁹  so ¹⁰  he said to them, “Are you asking ¹¹  each other about this – that I said, ‘In a little while you ¹²  will not see me; again after a little while, you ¹³  will see me’?

John 16:18

16:18 So they kept on repeating, ¹⁴  “What is the meaning of what he says, ¹⁵  ‘In a little while’? ¹⁶  We do not understand ¹⁷  what he is talking about.” ¹⁸ 

John 14:19

14:19 In a little while ¹⁹  the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too.

John 13:33

13:33 Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, ²⁰  and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ²¹  ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ ²²  now I tell you the same. ²³ 

[16:16]  ¹ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

[16:16]  ² tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

[16:16]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Grk “What is this that he is saying to us.”

[16:17]  ⁵ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

[16:17]  ⁶ tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

[16:17]  ⁷ 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.

[16:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “knew.”

[16:19]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “inquiring” or “seeking.”

[16:19]  ¹¹ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

[16:19]  ¹² tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

[16:18]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “they kept on saying.”

[16:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “What is this that he says.”

[16:18]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Or “we do not know.”

[16:18]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “what he is speaking.”

[14:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “Yet a little while, and.”

[13:33]  ¹⁶ tn Or “You will seek me.”

[13:33]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ sn See John 7:33-34.

[13:33]  ¹⁹ 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.