“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.[1] 2 Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts off, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so it will bear more fruit.[2] 3 You are already clean because of the word I’ve spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as a branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it stays in the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him — that person bears much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone doesn’t remain in me, he’s thrown out like a branch and withers. People gather them up, throw them into the fire, and they burn. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will happen for you. 8 My Father is glorified in this: that you bear much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
9 “Just as the Father has loved me, I’ve loved you too. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love — just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I’ve told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full.
12 “This is my command: love one another the way I’ve loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this — that someone would lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends, because everything I’ve heard from my Father I’ve made known to you.[3] 16 You didn’t choose me — I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 17 This is what I command you: love one another.
18 “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. But you don’t belong to the world — I chose you out of the world — and that’s why the world hates you. 20 Remember the word I spoke to you: a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they’ll persecute you too. If they kept my word, they’ll keep yours too. 21 But they’ll do all these things to you because of my name, since they don’t know the one who sent me.
22 “If I hadn’t come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father too. 24 If I hadn’t done among them the works no one else has done, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin. But now they’ve seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so the word written in their law would be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a reason.’[4]
26 “When the Advocate comes — the one I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father — he will testify about me.[5] 27 And you too will testify, because you’ve been with me from the beginning.”
Notes
Note 1. The vine was already a familiar image for Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures — planted and tended by God in Psalm 80 and Isaiah 5, but often disappointing him. ↩
Note 2. There is a play on words here that English can’t quite carry. The verb for “prunes” (kathairei) is a gardening term for cleaning up a vine, and it shares its root with the word “clean” (katharoi) in the very next verse — so the pruning of the branches and the cleansing of the disciples are described with nearly the same word. ↩
Note 3. The word here (doulos) means a slave — owned property with no standing to know the master’s business. ↩
Note 4. The quoted line, “They hated me without a reason,” comes from the Psalms (35:19; 69:4), where the singer complains of enemies who hate him for no cause. John calls it their “law” — a broad use of the term that could cover the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures, not just the books of Moses. ↩
Note 5. The Greek word is paraklētos, literally “one called alongside.” In ordinary Greek it carried a legal flavor — an advocate or supporter who speaks up for you — which is why translators reach for words like “Advocate,” “Counselor,” or “Helper.” The courtroom sense fits the surrounding talk of testifying and bearing witness. ↩