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And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.
John 17:5 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
  • KJV And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
  • NKJV And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
  • NASB And now You, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed.
  • NLT Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.

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 asks the Father to restore the glory he shared with him before the world existed. This points to his eternal pre-existence and deity.

Overview

Jesus prays to be glorified with the glory he had with the Father 'before the world existed,' affirming that the Son existed eternally in divine glory before the incarnation. Having humbled himself by taking on flesh, he now looks to his exaltation. The verse is a strong witness to the eternal deity of Christ and to the glory awaiting him through the cross and resurrection.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • John 1:1–3In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
  • Col 1:15–17The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
  • John 10:30I and the Father are one.”
  • 1 Pet 1:20He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
  • Phil 2:6Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
  • Heb 1:3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
  • Rev 5:9–14And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
  • Heb 1:10And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
  • John 17:24Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
  • Prov 8:22–31The LORD created me as His first course, before His works of old.
  • John 1:18No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.
  • Matt 25:34Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
  • John 8:58“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
  • John 3:13No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
  • 1 Jn 1:2And this is the life that was revealed; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.
  • John 14:9Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
  • Rev 3:21To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
  • Rev 13:8And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

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 17:5YouTube · 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 17:5 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.