The High Priestly Prayer

1When Jesus had spoken these things, He raised His eyes to heaven [in prayer] and said, “Father, the [a]hour has come. Glorify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify You. 2Just as You have given Him power and authority over all mankind, [now glorify Him] so that He may give eternal life [b]to all whom You have given Him [to be His--permanently and forever]. 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true [supreme and sovereign] God, and [in the same manner know] Jesus [as the] Christ whom You have sent. 4I have glorified You [down here] on the earth by [c]completing the work that You gave Me to do. 5Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory and majesty that I had with You before the world existed.

6“I have manifested Your name [and revealed Your very self, Your real self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept and obeyed Your word. 7Now [at last] they know [with confident assurance] that all You have given Me is from You [it is really and truly Yours]. 8For the words which You gave Me I have given them; and they received and accepted them and truly understood [with confident assurance] that I came from You [from Your presence], and they believed [without any doubt] that You sent Me. 9I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those You have given Me, because they belong to You; 10and all things that are Mine are Yours, and [all things that are] Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them. 11I am no longer in the world; yet they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. 12While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and protected them, and not one of them was lost except [d]the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

The Disciples in the World

13But now I am coming to You; and I say these things [while I am still] in the world so that they may experience My joy made full and complete and perfect within them [filling their hearts with My delight]. 14I have given to them Your word [the message You gave Me]; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world and do not belong to the world, just as I am not of the world and do not belong to it. 15I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but that You keep them and protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth. 18Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned and sent them (believers) into the world. 19For their sake [e]I sanctify Myself [to do Your will], so that they also may be sanctified [set apart, dedicated, made holy] in [Your] truth.

20“I do not pray for these alone [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for [all] those who [will ever] believe and trust in Me through their message, 21that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me.

Their Future Glory

22I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected and completed into one, so that the world may know [without any doubt] that You sent Me, and [that You] have loved them, just as You have loved Me. 24Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given to Me [as Your gift to Me], may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

25“O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has never acknowledged You [and the revelation of Your mercy], yet I have always known You; and these [believers] know [without any doubt] that You sent Me; 26and I have made Your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them [overwhelming their heart], and I [may be] in them.”

[a] 1 I.e. the time of Jesus’ death.
[b] 2 A reference to election or predestination. Also see John 6:39; 17:6, 9, 24; Acts 13:48; Rom 8:29-33; Eph 1:3-6; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2.
[c] 4 Much of Jesus’ discourse and prayer in John 13-17 is reminiscent of God’s comparison of rain and snow to His word in Is 55:10, 11. Like God’s word, Jesus, who was introduced by John as the Word (John 1:1), comes from God (John 16:28; 17:8), accomplishes God’s desire (John 14:10; 17:4, 8) and then returns to God (John 13:33; 14:4; 17:13).The themes of joy and peace found in Isaiah 55:12 also resonate throughout John 13-17; joy (John 15:11; 16:20-24; 17:13) and peace (John 14:27; 16:33). Isaiah 55; 56 has many points of connection with John’s Gospel as a whole, most notably the invitations to quench thirst (Is 55:1; John 4:13, 14; 7:37) and receive bread (Is 55:2; John 6:26-35, 48-51). Other points of connection between Is 55; 56 and John include the tie between listening and living, appeals to witnesses, calls to obedience, the idea of a special window of God’s nearness, and the inclusion of the Gentiles in salvation.
[d] 12 Hebrew idiom for one destined to perish. The betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot was foretold in Ps 41:9; cf John 13:18.
[e] 19 Jesus’ sacrificial death allows Christians to be truly sanctified--set apart for God’s purpose.