Good News Translation‘s In a little while is also the rendering of New English Bible and Goodspeed. New American Bible translates “a little while now,” and Moffatt “a little while longer.” Will see (both occurrences) is actually in the present tense in Greek (“sees”), but the time reference is obviously future, and most translators render it so. The event referred to is, of course, Jesus’ death, which was destined to take place within a day’s time. Accordingly, in some translations the rendering of the first clause in verse 19 is essentially equivalent to “within a day the world will see me no more” or “… people in the world….” In some languages no more must be rendered “again,” for example, “within a day people of the world will not see me again.” This rendering provides an excellent basis for the contrast to be found in the following clause: “but you will see me again.” It is so important to render this second clause so as to indicate clearly that the disciples were not to continue to see Jesus during the entire time of his death, but rather that they would see him again at the time of his resurrection.
The pronouns you … I … and you are all emphatic.
Because I live, you also will live affirms that Jesus is the source of life for the believers, just as the Father is the source of life for him (see 6.57; because of him I live also). It is possible to punctuate this verse differently and so connect the clause because I live with what precedes (Jerusalem Bible “but you will see me, because I live and you will live”; see New American Bible) Both interpretations are thoroughly Johannine and well suited to the context. Jerusalem Bible sees the because clause as a continuation of the thoughts already presented, while Good News Translation takes it as introducing a new idea.
A literal translation of because I live, you also will live might be understood to mean simply “because I have lived, you also will live” or “because I am now alive, you also will live.” What seems clear in this context is that it is the continuing life of Jesus which forms a basis for the life of the disciples, that is, the fact that Jesus will himself rise from death. Therefore, one may translate “because I will continue to live, you also will live.” However, a literal translation of “continue to live” might be an actual denial of his death, and readers might assume that Jesus only “pretended to die” or “seemed to die.” It may, therefore, be necessary to indicate clearly “because I will live again, you also will live.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .