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However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
John 16:13 · Berean Standard Bible · underlined terms are tappable
Parallel translations
  • WEB However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.
  • KJV Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
  • NKJV However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
  • NASB But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
  • NLT When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.

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

The Spirit of truth will guide the disciples into all truth, speaking what He hears and declaring things to come. He leads believers into the full truth of God.

Overview

Jesus promises that the Spirit will guide the apostles into all the truth, not speaking on His own but conveying what He receives from the Father and the Son. This undergirds the trustworthiness of the apostolic teaching enshrined in the New Testament. The Spirit's ministry is self-effacing, always serving to make God's revelation known.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 28

  • John 14:26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
  • 1 Cor 2:10–13But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
  • John 14:17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.
  • John 15:26When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.
  • 1 Jn 2:27And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.
  • 1 Jn 2:20You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
  • Acts 2:17–18‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
  • John 12:49I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.
  • John 7:16–18“My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “It comes from Him who sent Me.
  • 1 Jn 4:6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
  • 2 Tim 3:1–5But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.
  • John 14:6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
  • 1 Tim 4:1–3Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
  • John 8:38I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
  • Rev 1:19Therefore write down the things you have seen, and the things that are, and the things that will happen after this.
  • 2 Th 2:3Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.
  • Rev 22:1–21Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
  • Rev 1:1This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John,
  • Acts 27:24and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And look, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you.’
  • Joel 2:28And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
  • 2 Th 2:12in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.
  • Acts 21:9–11He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
  • John 3:32He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony.
  • Eph 4:7–15Now to each one of us grace has been given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
  • Acts 20:23I only know that in town after town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions await me.
  • Acts 11:28One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)
  • 2 Pet 2:1–22Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
  • Rev 6:1–17Then I watched as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say in a thunderous voice, “Come!”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 16:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 16:13 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.