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I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
John 17:11 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
  • BSB I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one.
  • NKJV Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.
  • NASB I am no longer going to be in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are.
  • NLT Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.

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

As Jesus returns to the Father, he asks him to keep the disciples in his name so that they may be one as the Father and Son are one. He prays for their protection and unity.

Overview

Jesus, about to leave the world, entrusts his disciples to the Father's keeping power. He addresses God as 'Holy Father,' fitting for a prayer about being kept from sin and the world. The unity he seeks is modeled on the perfect oneness of Father and Son. This intercession assures the church that its preservation and unity rest on God's own faithfulness.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 40

  • Matt 6:9Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
  • Prov 18:10Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.
  • John 17:12–18While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
  • John 17:21–22that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
  • John 10:29–30My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
  • Heb 9:24For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
  • Eph 4:4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling;
  • Phil 2:9Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
  • Heb 1:3His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
  • John 14:20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
  • John 13:3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God,
  • 1 Cor 12:12–13For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.
  • John 17:25Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
  • John 16:33I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”
  • John 13:1Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
  • Rom 15:5–6Now the God of perseverance and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus,
  • 1 Jn 5:19We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
  • 1 Pet 1:15–17but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;
  • Jas 4:4You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
  • Jude 1:1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
  • Isa 64:2As when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the water to boil; Make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!
  • Ps 79:9Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.
  • Jer 14:21Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake. Do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us.
  • Acts 1:9–11When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
  • Jer 14:7Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you.
  • Matt 5:48Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
  • Isa 27:3I, Yahweh, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day.
  • Ezek 20:22Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out.
  • 1 Cor 1:10Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
  • Acts 3:21whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.
  • Rom 9:17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
  • Ezek 20:9But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
  • Rom 12:5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
  • John 16:28I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”
  • John 7:33Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me.
  • John 15:18–21If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
  • Gal 3:28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
  • Matt 10:16“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
  • Ps 17:8–9Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,
  • 1 Pet 1:5who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

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 17:11YouTube · 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 17:11 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.