After Jesus said these things, he lifted his eyes toward heaven and said:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you gave him authority over all flesh, so that he might give eternal life to everyone you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus the Anointed One, whom you sent.[1] 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.
6 “I have made your name known to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you, 8 because I gave them the words you gave me, and they received them. They have come to know for certain that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
9 “I am asking on their behalf. I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those you have given me, because they are yours. 10 All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
“Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, the name you gave me. I guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.[2]
13 “But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things while I am still in the world so that they may have my joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I am not asking that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth.[3] 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I set myself apart, so that they too may be truly set apart.
20 “I am not asking only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 so that they may all be one — just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you — so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one just as we are one — 23 I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you loved them just as you loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so they may see my glory, the glory you gave me because you loved me before the world was made.[4]
25 “Father, you are just — the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. 26 I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Notes
Note 1. The Greek word behind “true” here, alēthinon, means genuine or real — the authentic thing as opposed to the false or the counterfeit. ↩
Note 2. “Son of destruction” (ho huios tēs apōleias) is a Hebrew-style turn of phrase in which “son of” names what someone is bound up with or headed for — here, ruin. The same expression turns up in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 for a coming figure of evil. This verse names no one; John names Judas at 6:71 and 13:2. ↩
Note 3. The verb here, hagiason, means to consecrate or set apart for God’s use — the same language the Hebrew scriptures use for dedicating priests and holy things to sacred service. ↩
Note 4. The phrase pro katabolēs kosmou — “before the founding of the world” — reaches back past creation itself to describe the Father’s love for the Son. It’s the same reach as verse 5, where Jesus speaks of glory he had “before the world existed.” ↩