John 14
The chapter in full, then the passages inside it that are worth stopping on — what each one claims, what the Greek or Hebrew shows, and how the reading is arrived at.
John 14 WEB
- 1 "Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
- 2 In my Father's house are many homes. If it weren't so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
- 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
- 4 You know where I go, and you know the way."
- 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?"
- 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him."
- 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."
- 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, 'Show us the Father'?
- 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
- 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works' sake.
- 12 Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.
- 13 Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- 14 If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
- 15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
- 16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever:
- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world can't receive, for it doesn't see him and doesn't know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
- 18 I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
- 19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
- 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
- 21 One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him."
- 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?"
- 23 Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
- 24 He who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words. The word which you hear isn't mine, but the Father's who sent me.
- 25 "I have said these things to you while still living with you.
- 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.
- 27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
- 28 You heard how I told you, 'I am going away, and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I said 'I am going to my Father;' for the Father is greater than I.
- 29 Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.
- 30 I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.
- 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let's go from here.
This chapter opens the discourse Jesus gives at the Last Supper, immediately after Peter has been told he will deny him three times (John 13:36–38). The room is unsettled — betrayal predicted, death spoken of openly, the group about to lose the one thing holding them together. John 14 is the first movement of comfort in that setting, running through three disciples' questions (Thomas, Philip, Judas not Iscariot) before Jesus rises to leave the table at 14:31.
14:1 Do not let your hearts be troubled
The command μὴ ταρασσέσθω is present imperative, addressed to a heart already troubled — the same verb (ταράσσω) used of Jesus himself at Lazarus's tomb and in Gethsemane's shadow (John 11, 13:21). This is not a claim that trouble is unreal or beneath a believer; it is Jesus telling frightened men to stop letting a real thing govern them, on the basis of who he is going to. "Believe in God. Believe also in me" (πιστεύετε) can be read as two imperatives or as indicative-then-imperative; either way the structure puts trust in Jesus on the same footing as trust in God — an ordinary Jewish teacher does not say this. Teresa of Ávila's Nada te turbe picks up exactly this note centuries later: "Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass away; God never changes." The command doesn't erase the trouble; it names something more durable than it.
14:2-3 In my Father's house are many rooms
μοναὶ (from μένω, "to remain") means dwelling-places, not "mansions" in the sense the King James gave the word its afterlife — it's the same root used later in the chapter for "remain" and "abide" (14:10, 14:17, 14:23). The image is of a household with room, not real estate. Jesus' purpose in going is not abandonment but preparation: πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον, "I go to prepare a place." The promise in 14:3 — "I will come again and will receive you to myself" — has historically been read two ways: as the personal death of each believer, received into Christ's presence (2 Corinthians 5:1, "we have a building from God... eternal, in the heavens"), and as the final return of Christ at the end of the age (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The church has not needed to choose between them; the chapter itself doesn't specify a timetable, only a destination and a person doing the fetching.
14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life
Thomas asks the practical question a lost man asks — "we don't know where you are going, how can we know the way?" — and gets an answer that collapses the category. Jesus does not say he knows the way, or teaches it; ἡ ὁδὸς is predicated of him directly, with the article, as also with ἡ ἀλήθεια and ἡ ζωή. The claim that follows is exclusive by its own grammar: οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι' ἐμοῦ — "no one comes to the Father except through me." This is not softened elsewhere in the New Testament; Acts 4:12 says the same thing in different words ("no other name... by which we must be saved"). Some modern readers propose that this describes only John's community's experience of Christ rather than a metaphysical claim about all paths to God; the text gives no warrant for that distinction — the sentence is stated as fact about the Father, not as a report of what the Johannine church happened to believe. Thomas's doubt returns later, more famously, at the tomb (John 20:25); here it is honest confusion met with the most direct self-identification Jesus makes in this Gospel.
14:16 17, 26 — Another Counselor, the Spirit of truth
ἄλλον Παράκλητον — "another Advocate" — matters in the Greek: ἄλλος means another of the same kind, not ἕτερος, another of a different kind. Whatever the Paraclete is, it is not a downgrade from Christ's presence but the same kind of help continuing. Παράκλητος itself resists a single English gloss — Counselor, Comforter, Advocate, one called alongside — because it carries the sense of a legal and personal helper at once. The promise is deliberately unlike anything the disciples can arrange for themselves: the world "can't receive" this Spirit because it doesn't see or know him (14:17), and his work in 14:26 is specific — not new revelation, but teaching and reminding, "he... will remind you of all that I said to you." This grounds the reliability of the Gospel's own record: John is claiming that what follows in this book is a Spirit-assisted memory of Jesus' actual words, not free invention.
14:27 Peace I leave with you
"Not as the world gives" marks the difference sharply: worldly peace is the absence of conflict or threat; what Jesus gives coexists with betrayal, denial, and his own death happening within hours. The imperative repeats 14:1 almost word for word (μὴ ταρασσέσθω) with an added μηδὲ δειλιάτω, "nor let it be afraid" — δειλία being cowardice, not ordinary caution. Isaiah 12:2 gives the same shape centuries earlier — "I will trust, and will not be afraid" — peace and trust bound together rather than peace as a feeling achieved by technique.
What the chapter asks
The chapter presses a single claim from several directions: that Jesus' departure is not desertion but the necessary means of a closer presence — through prepared rooms, through the Spirit, through mutual indwelling ("I in my Father, and you in me, and I in you," 14:20). It asks whether the reader will take Jesus at his word that he alone is the way to the Father, a claim the text refuses to blur into one option among several. And it asks whether trouble and fear, real and reasonable as they are on the night this was spoken, get the final word over a peace given by someone who says plainly where he is going and that he is coming back.
The verses this turns on
"Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία· πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε.
- Μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- ταρασσέσθω ταράσσω verb · present middle or passive imperative, 3rd person singular G5015
- ὑμῶν σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- καρδία· καρδία noun · nominative singular feminine G2588
- πιστεύετε πιστεύω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person plural G4100
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- Θεόν, θεός noun · accusative singular masculine G2316
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- ἐμὲ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Isaiah 26:3 You will keep whoever's mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.
- John 16:22 Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
- Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation."
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- John 14:27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
In my Father's house are many homes. If it weren't so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν· εἰ δὲ μή, εἶπον ἂν ὑμῖν· ὅτι πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον ὑμῖν·
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
- οἰκίᾳ οἰκία noun · dative singular feminine G3614
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular masculine G3588
- Πατρός πατήρ noun · genitive singular masculine G3962
- μου ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- μοναὶ μονή noun · nominative plural feminine G3438
- πολλαί πολύς adjective · nominative plural feminine G4183
- εἰσιν· εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 3rd person plural G1510
- εἰ εἰ conditional G1487
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- μή, μή particle · nominative G3361
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
- John 13:36 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you can't follow now, but you will follow afterwards."
- Hebrews 13:14 For we don't have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.
- Revelation 21:2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
- Hebrews 11:10 For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
καὶ ἐὰν πορευθῶ καὶ ἑτοιμάσω τόπον ὑμῖν, πάλιν ἔρχομαι καὶ παραλήμψομαι ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἐμαυτόν, ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε.
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἐὰν ἐάν conditional G1437
- πορευθῶ πορεύομαι verb · aorist passive deponent subjunctive, 1st person singular G4198
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἑτοιμάσω ἑτοιμάζω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 1st person singular G2090
- τόπον τόπος noun · accusative singular masculine G5117
- ὑμῖν, σύ personal pronoun G4771
- πάλιν πάλιν adverb G3825
- ἔρχομαι ἔρχομαι verb · present middle or passive deponent indicative, 1st person singular G2064
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- παραλήμψομαι παραλαμβάνω verb · future middle deponent indicative, 1st person singular G3880
- ὑμᾶς σύ personal pronoun G4771
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God's trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,
- John 12:26 If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
- 2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us.
- Acts 1:11 who also said, "You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky."
- Hebrews 9:28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
λέγει αὐτῷ Ἰησοῦς Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή· οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι’ ἐμοῦ.
- λέγει λέγω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
- αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
- Ἰησοῦς Ἰησοῦς noun · nominative singular masculine G2424
- Ἐγώ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- εἰμι εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 1st person singular G1510
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- ὁδὸς ὁδός noun · nominative singular feminine G3598
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- ἀλήθεια ἀλήθεια noun · nominative singular feminine G225
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Acts 4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!"
- John 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out and will find pasture.
- Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
- John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
- John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
οὐ πιστεύεις ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν; τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ· ὁ δὲ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοὶ μένων ποιεῖ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ.
- οὐ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- πιστεύεις πιστεύω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person singular G4100
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- ἐγὼ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- Πατρὶ πατήρ noun · dative singular masculine G3962
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- Πατὴρ πατήρ noun · nominative singular masculine G3962
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἐμοί ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 5:19 Jesus therefore answered them, "Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
- John 10:38 But if I do them, though you don't believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."
- John 10:30 I and the Father are one."
- Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
- John 8:28 Jesus therefore said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.
I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever:discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν Πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον Παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν ἵνα ᾖ μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα,
- κἀγὼ κἀγώ personal pronoun G2504
- ἐρωτήσω ἐρωτάω verb · future active indicative, 1st person singular G2065
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- Πατέρα πατήρ noun · accusative singular masculine G3962
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἄλλον ἄλλος adjective · accusative singular masculine G243
- Παράκλητον παράκλητος noun · accusative singular masculine G3875
- δώσει δίδωμι verb · future active indicative, 3rd person singular G1325
- ὑμῖν σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ἵνα ἵνα conjunction G2443
- ᾖ εἰμί verb · present active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G1510
- μεθ’ μετά preposition G3326
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.
- John 15:26 "When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
- John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I don't go away, the Counselor won't come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
- Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can't be uttered.
the Spirit of truth, whom the world can't receive, for it doesn't see him and doesn't know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, ὅτι οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ οὐδὲ γινώσκει· ὑμεῖς γινώσκετε αὐτό, ὅτι παρ’ ὑμῖν μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται.
- τὸ ὁ article · accusative singular neuter G3588
- Πνεῦμα πνεῦμα noun · accusative singular neuter G4151
- τῆς ὁ article · genitive singular feminine G3588
- ἀληθείας, ἀλήθεια noun · genitive singular feminine G225
- ὃ ὅς relative pronoun · accusative singular neuter G3739
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- κόσμος κόσμος noun · nominative singular masculine G2889
- οὐ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- δύναται δύναμαι verb · present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular G1410
- λαβεῖν, λαμβάνω verb · aorist active infinitive G2983
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- οὐ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Ezekiel 36:27 I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.
- John 16:13 However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.
- 1 John 2:27 As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don't need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.
- John 15:26 "When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
- 1 John 4:6 We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn't listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε ὑμεῖς ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρί μου καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν.
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἐκείνῃ ἐκεῖνος demonstrative pronoun · dative singular feminine G1565
- τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
- ἡμέρᾳ ἡμέρα noun · dative singular feminine G2250
- γνώσεσθε γινώσκω verb · future middle deponent indicative, 2nd person plural G1097
- ὑμεῖς σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- ἐγὼ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- Πατρί πατήρ noun · dative singular masculine G3962
- μου ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 15:5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
- Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
- John 17:21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
- John 17:26 I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them."
- John 14:10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
From the interpretive tradition
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass away; God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing.
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.