1"I am the
true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no
fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have
spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will
remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the
branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is
thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and
burned. 7If you remain in me and my words
remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much
fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9"As the Father has loved me,
so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If
you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just
as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in
you and that your joy may be complete. 12My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that
he lay down his life for his friends. 14You
are my friends if you do what I command. 15I
no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's
business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you. 16You
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit
that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
18"If the
world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As
it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you. 20Remember
the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.'[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute
you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my
name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22If
I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now,
however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23He
who hates me hates my Father as well. 24If
I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of
sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and
my Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is
written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'[c]
26"When the Counselor comes,
whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from
the Father, he will testify about me. 27And
you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
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