Paragraph 14:18–21

Jesus said that he was not going to abandon his followers. He would send the Holy Spirit to them. He and the Father would come and be with them.

14:18a

I will not leave you as orphans: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as I will not leave you as orphans is a metaphor that indicates that Jesus would not leave the disciples alone with no one to protect them. They would not be like a child without parents. There are several ways to translate this figure of speech:

• Use a metaphor. For example:

I shall not leave you orphans. (New Jerusalem Bible)

• Use a simile. For example:

I won’t leave you like orphans. (Contemporary English Version)

• Use a simile indicating the meaning. For example:

I will not leave you all alone like orphans. (New Century Version)

• Translate just the meaning of the metaphor. For example:

When I go, you will not be left all alone. (Good News Translation)
-or-
I am not going to leave you alone in the world. (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

It is good to keep the figure of speech if that is possible and natural in your language. However, it may not be possible or natural to include the idea of orphans in your translation. Or people may not understand why Jesus used the idea of orphans here. If one of those problems is true in your language, you should translate just the meaning of the metaphor.

leave you as orphans: This phrase refers to going away from someone who has no one to care for them. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

abandon you as orphans (New Living Translation (2004))

you: This pronoun is plural and refers to the disciples.

14:18b

I will come to you: There are three ways to interpret what time Jesus is referring to here:

(1) It refers to Jesus’ resurrection.

(2) It refers to the Holy Spirit coming.

(3) It refers to Jesus’ return at the end of the world.

All the available English translations have translated this literally, without saying what event Jesus referred to. It is recommended that you also translate this literally.

However in some languages it may be necessary to say whether the event would happen soon or much later. If you need to make this clear, it is recommended that you indicate that the event would happen soon. That would include interpretations (1) and (2). The present tense of the Greek verb refers more naturally to something happening soon and this suits the context better. For example:

I will come back to you. (Good News Translation)
-or-
I will come again to you. (Yakan Back Translation)
-or-
I will return here to you.

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