Skip to reading
Atomic Bible
John

Chapter 17

Jesus Prays for Glory and Unity

John 17 records Jesus’ prayer before his arrest. He asks the Father to glorify the Son so the Son may glorify the Father, defines eternal life as knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, and speaks of the work already completed. He then prays for the disciples’ protection, holiness, joy, and unity, and extends that prayer to future believers.

In John’s farewell, chapter 17 gathers Jesus’ final words into prayer. After promise, warning, and peace, the scene turns inward: the Son speaks to the Father about glory, preservation, truth, and oneness before the chapter of betrayal and arrest begins.

3 sections·628 words·~3 min read


Reader

John 17

A continuous BSB reading flow. Turn on the guide when you want authored orientation; leave it off when you simply want the text.

vv. 1-5

Prayer for the Son

Open section

W1hen Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. 2For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him.

3Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. 4I have glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do.

5And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.

vv. 6-19

Prayer for the Disciples

Open section

I6 have revealed Your name to those You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. 8For I have given them the words You gave Me, and they have received them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

9I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those You have given Me; for they are Yours. 10All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine; and in them I have been glorified.

11I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. 12Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. While I was with them, I protected and preserved them by Your name, the name You gave Me. Not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

13But now I am coming to You; and I am saying these things while I am in the world, so that they may have My joy fulfilled within them. 14I have given them Your word and the world has hated them. For they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

15I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

17Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. 18As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.

vv. 20-26

Prayer for All Believers

Open section

I20 am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

22I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one — 23I in them and You in Me — that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.

24Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I know You, and they know that You sent Me.

26And I have made Your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love You have for Me may be in them, and I in them.”