Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me.
Parallel translations
- KJV Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
- BSB So Jesus said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the One who sent Me.
- ESV Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.
- NKJV Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.
- NASB Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am going to be with you, and then I am going to Him who sent Me.
- NLT But Jesus told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 tells them He will be with them only a little longer before returning to the One who sent Him. He foretells His departure to the Father.
Overview
Jesus speaks of His coming death, resurrection, and ascension as a return to the Father who sent Him. This veiled prophecy puzzles His hearers but reminds readers of the divine plan unfolding. His limited time among them is a call to respond in faith while the opportunity remains, before He goes where they cannot follow in unbelief.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- John 16:5But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
- John 13:33Little 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.
- John 17:13But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
- 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.
- Mark 16:19So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
- John 17:11I 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 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 16:28I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”
- John 16:16–22A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”
- 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,
- John 16:10about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more;
- 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.
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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 7:33 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
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.