Daily Bible Reading
Day 78
Today's reading: John 16-18
Look for the promises in God’s word. As you read and find them, write them in your journal along with the scripture reference.
John 16
1. “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away.
2. They will put you out of the synagogue, yet a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God.
3. They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me.
4. But I have told you these things so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them. “I did not tell you these things from the beginning because I was with you.
5. But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’
6. Instead your hearts are filled with sadness because I have said these things to you.
7. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.
8. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment –
9. concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
10. concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer;
11. and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
12. “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come.
14. He will glorify me, because he will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.
15. Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.
16. In a little while you will see me no longer; again after a little while, you will see me.”
17. Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, ‘In a little while you will not see me; again after a little while, you will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?”
18. So they kept on repeating, “What is the meaning of what he says, ‘In a little while’? We do not understand what he is talking about.”
19. Jesus could see that they wanted to ask him about these things, so he said to them, “Are you asking each other about this – that I said, ‘In a little while you will not see me; again after a little while, you will see me’?
20. I tell you the solemn truth, you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy.
21. When a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world.
22. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
23. At that time you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.
24. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive it, so that your joy may be complete.
25. “I have told you these things in obscure figures of speech; a time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in obscure figures, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
26. At that time you will ask in my name, and I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
27. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
28. I came from the Father and entered into the world, but in turn, I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
29. His disciples said, “Look, now you are speaking plainly and not in obscure figures of speech!
30. Now we know that you know everything and do not need anyone to ask you anything. Because of this we believe that you have come from God.”
31. Jesus replied, “Do you now believe?
32. Look, a time is coming – and has come – when you will be scattered, each one to his own home, and I will be left alone. Yet I am not alone, because my Father is with me.
33. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage – I have conquered the world.”
John 17
Jesus Prays for the Father to Glorify Him
1. When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you –
2. just as you have given him authority over all humanity, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him.
3. Now this is eternal life – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
4. I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
5. And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created.
Jesus Prays for the Disciples
6. “I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word.
7. Now they understand that everything you have given me comes from you,
8. because I have given them the words you have given me. They accepted them and really understand that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
9. I am praying on behalf of them. I am not praying on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those you have given me, because they belong to you.
10. Everything I have belongs to you, and everything you have belongs to me, and I have been glorified by 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 safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one.
12. When I was with them I kept them safe and watched over them in your name that you have given me. Not one of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, so that the scripture could be fulfilled.
13. But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves.
14. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
15. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one.
16. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world.
17. Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth.
18. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.
19. And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart.
Jesus Prays for Believers Everywhere
20. “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony,
21. that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.
22. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one –
23. I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.
24. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25. Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me.
26. I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.”
John 18
Betrayal and Arrest
1. When he had said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley. There was an orchard there, and he and his disciples went into it.
2. (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, knew the place too, because Jesus had met there many times with his disciples.)
3. So Judas obtained a squad of soldiers and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees. They came to the orchard with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4. Then Jesus, because he knew everything that was going to happen to him, came and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
5. They replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He told them, “I am he.” (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, was standing there with them.)
6. So when Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they retreated and fell to the ground.
7. Then Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
8. Jesus replied, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, let these men go.”
9. He said this to fulfill the word he had spoken, “I have not lost a single one of those whom you gave me.”
10. Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, pulled it out and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear. (Now the slave’s name was Malchus.)
11. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath! Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
Jesus Before Annas
12. Then the squad of soldiers with their commanding officer and the officers of the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and tied him up.
13. They brought him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
14. (Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.)
Peter’s First Denial
15. Simon Peter and another disciple followed them as they brought Jesus to Annas. (Now the other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard.)
16. But Simon Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, and brought Peter inside.
17. The girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You’re not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” He replied, “I am not.”
18. (Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made, warming themselves because it was cold. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.)
Jesus Questioned by Annas
19. While this was happening, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.
20. Jesus replied, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple courts, where all the Jewish people assemble together. I have said nothing in secret.
21. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said. They know what I said.”
22. When Jesus had said this, one of the high priest’s officers who stood nearby struck him on the face and said, “Is that the way you answer the high priest?”
23. Jesus replied, “If I have said something wrong, confirm what is wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why strike me?”
24. Then Annas sent him, still tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest.
Peter’s Second and Third Denials
25. Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing in the courtyard warming himself. They said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” Peter denied it: “I am not!”
26. One of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the orchard with him?”
27. Then Peter denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.
Jesus Brought Before Pilate
28. Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s residence. (Now it was very early morning.) They did not go into the governor’s residence so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal.
29. So Pilate came outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30. They replied, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”
31. Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him according to your own law!” The Jewish leaders replied, “We cannot legally put anyone to death.”
32. (This happened to fulfill the word Jesus had spoken when he indicated what kind of death he was going to die.)
Pilate Questions Jesus
33. So Pilate went back into the governor’s residence, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34. Jesus replied, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or have others told you about me?”
35. Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own people and your chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”
36. Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
37. Then Pilate said, “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
38. Pilate asked, “What is truth?” When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders and announced, “I find no basis for an accusation against him.
39. But it is your custom that I release one prisoner for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?”
40. Then they shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.)