Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going.
Parallel translations
- WEB Little children, I will be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come,’ so now I tell you.
- KJV Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.
- BSB Little children, I am with you only a little while longer. You will look for Me, and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you: ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
- NKJV Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you.
- NASB Little children, I am still with you a little longer. You will look for Me; and just as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you: ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus tenderly tells the disciples He will be with them only a little longer and that they cannot yet follow where He goes. It begins His farewell with both affection and warning of separation.
Overview
Addressing them as 'little children,' Jesus prepares the disciples for His departure through death and return to the Father. They cannot follow now, for His way to glory through the cross is His alone to walk. The verse opens the Farewell Discourse with comfort amid the sorrow of impending separation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- John 7:33–34Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me.
- 1 Jn 2:1My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
- John 8:21–24Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”
- John 16:16–22A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”
- John 14:4–6Where I go, you know, and you know the way.”
- John 12:35–36Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.
- John 14:19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
- 1 Jn 5:21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
- Gal 4:19My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you —
- 1 Jn 4:4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 13:33 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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