John 17

International Children’s Bible

Jesus Prays for His Followers

17 After Jesus said these things he looked toward heaven. Jesus prayed, “Father, the time has come. Give glory to your Son so that the Son can give glory to you. ² You gave the Son power over all people so that the Son could give eternal life to all those people you have given to him. ³ And this is eternal life: that men can know you, the only true God, and that men can know Jesus Christ, the One you sent. ⁴ I finished the work you gave me to do. I brought you glory on earth. ⁵ And now, Father, give me glory with you. Give me the glory I had with you before the world was made.

⁶ “You gave me some men from the world. I have shown them what you are like. Those men belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your teaching. ⁷ Now they know that everything you gave me comes from you. ⁸ I gave these men the teachings that you gave me. They accepted those teachings. They know that I truly came from you. ⁹ I pray for them now. I am not praying for the people in the world. But I am praying for those men you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And my glory is shown through these men. ¹¹ Now I am coming to you. I will not stay in the world now. But these men are still in the world. Holy Father, keep them safe. Keep them safe by the power of your name (the name you gave me), so that they will be one, the same as you and I are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them safe. I kept them safe by the power of your name—the name you gave me. I protected them. And only one of them, the one who is going to hell, was lost. He was lost so that what was said in the Scripture would happen.

¹³ “I am coming to you now. But I pray these things while I am still in the world. I say these things so that these men can have my joy. I want them to have all of my joy. ¹⁴ I have given them your teaching. And the world has hated them. The world hated these men, because they don’t belong to the world, the same as I don’t belong to the world. ¹⁵ I am not asking you to take them out of the world. But I am asking that you keep them safe from the Evil One. ¹⁶ They don’t belong to the world, the same as I don’t belong to the world. ¹⁷ Make them ready for your service through your truth. Your teaching is truth. ¹⁸ I have sent them into the world, the same as you sent me into the world. ¹⁹ I am making myself ready to serve. I do this for them so that they can truly be ready for your service.

²⁰ “I pray for these men. But I am also praying for all people who will believe in me because of the teaching of these men. ²¹ Father, I pray that all people who believe in me can be one. You are in me and I am in you. I pray that these people can also be one in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. ²² I have given these people the glory that you gave me. I gave them this glory so that they can be one, the same as you and I are one. ²³ I will be in them and you will be in me. So they will be completely one. Then the world will know that you sent me. And the world will know that you loved these people the same as you loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want these people that you have given me to be with me in every place I am. I want them to see my glory. This is the glory you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. ²⁵ Father, you are the One who is good. The world does not know you, but I know you. And these people know that you sent me. ²⁶ I showed them what you are like. And again I will show them what you are like. Then they will have the same love that you have for me. And I will live in them.”