John 15, Additional Reading: Job 27

Sunday, October 27, 2024
 

Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He [a]prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already [b]clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit [c]of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so [d]prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Disciples’ Relation to Each Other

12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 This I command you, that you love one another.

Disciples’ Relation to the World

18 “If the world hates you, [e]you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have [f]sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have [g]sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

26 “When the [h]Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27 [i]and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

Footnotes

  1. John 15:2 Lit cleans; used to describe pruning
  2. John 15:3 I.e. pruned like a branch
  3. John 15:4 Lit from
  4. John 15:8 Or become My disciples
  5. John 15:18 Or (imperative) know that
  6. John 15:22 I.e. guilt
  7. John 15:24 I.e. guilt
  8. John 15:26 Gr Paracletos, one called alongside to help; or Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor
  9. John 15:27 Or (imperative) and bear witness
 
 

Job Affirms His Righteousness

27 Then Job [a]continued his discourse and said,

“As God lives, who has taken away my right,
And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,
For as long as [b]life is in me,
And the [c]breath of God is in my nostrils,
My lips certainly will not speak unjustly,
Nor will my tongue mutter deceit.
“Far be it from me that I should declare you right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
“I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.
My heart does not reproach any of my days.

The State of the Godless

“May my enemy be as the wicked
And [d]my opponent as the unjust.
“For what is the hope of the godless [e]when he is cut off,
When God requires his [f]life?
“Will God hear his cry
When distress comes upon him?
10 “Will he take delight in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
11 “I will instruct you in the [g]power of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 “Behold, all of you have seen it;
Why then do you [h]act foolishly?

13 “This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty.
14 “Though his sons are many, [i]they are destined for the sword;
And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.
15 “His survivors will be buried because of the plague,
And [j]their widows will not be able to weep.
16 “Though he piles up silver like dust
And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,
17 He may prepare it, but the just will wear it
And the innocent will divide the silver.
18 “He has built his house like the [k]spider’s web,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.
19 “He lies down rich, but never [l]again;
He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.
20 “Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest steals him away in the night.
21 “The east wind carries him away, and he is gone,
For it whirls him away from his place.
22 “For it will hurl at him without sparing;
He will surely try to flee from its [m]power.
23 Men will clap their hands at him
And will hiss him from his place.

Footnotes

  1. Job 27:1 Or again took up
  2. Job 27:3 Lit breath
  3. Job 27:3 Or spirit
  4. Job 27:7 Lit he who rises up against me
  5. Job 27:8 Or though he gains
  6. Job 27:8 Lit soul
  7. Job 27:11 Lit hand
  8. Job 27:12 Or speak vanity
  9. Job 27:14 Lit the sword is for them
  10. Job 27:15 So ancient versions; Heb his
  11. Job 27:18 So ancient versions; Heb moth
  12. Job 27:19 So ancient versions; Heb will be gathered
  13. Job 27:22 Lit hand

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