And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
Parallel translations
- WEB They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
- BSB They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.
- NKJV And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.
- NASB These things they will do because they have not known the Father nor Me.
- NLT This is because they have never known the Father or me.
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
Persecutors will act this way because they have not known the Father or Jesus. Their hostility springs from ignorance of God.
Overview
Jesus identifies the root of such persecution: a fundamental failure to know the Father and the Son. Religious activity and sincerity are no substitute for true knowledge of God. This both explains the persecutors' actions and reminds the disciples that those who oppose them are spiritually blind, in need of the very gospel they reject.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- John 15:21But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
- John 17:25O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
- 2 Th 1:8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
- John 8:19Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
- John 8:55Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.
- 2 Th 2:10–12And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
- 1 Jn 3:1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
- John 17:3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
- 1 Jn 4:8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
- John 15:23He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
- 1 Cor 2:8Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
- 2 Cor 4:3–6But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
- 1 Jn 5:20And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
- Luke 10:22All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
- 1 Tim 1:13Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 16:3 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.