16:13a
However: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as However includes a word here that is often translated as “but.” The idea seems to be that although Jesus would not tell the disciples these many things, the Holy Spirit would tell them when he came. Many English translations leave this word implicit, but many others make it explicit. For example:
But (New International Version)
Translate this word in a way that is natural in your language.
when the Spirit of truth comes: This clause refers to the time in the near future when the Holy Spirit would come to the disciples. After Jesus returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit would come from God to live with those who believed in Jesus.
the Spirit of truth: This phrase refers to the Holy Spirit. See 15:26. The Spirit of God is truthful (honest) and always tells the truth. He reveals the truth about God, which Jesus wanted to tell the disciples but could not yet tell them. In some languages it is more natural to make this explicit. For example:
When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, (Good News Translation)
In some languages it may be necessary to translate truth as an adjective. For example:
The Spirit shows what is true (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
The Holy Spirit explains what is true about God. When he comes…
16:13b
He will guide you: This clause here means “he will teach you and make you able to understand.” The Holy Spirit will teach Jesus’ disciples so that they will be able to understand the things of God. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
he will lead you (Good News Translation)
-or-
he will teach you
-or-
he will guide ⌊your minds so that you will know⌋
-or-
he will help you ⌊so that you will really understand⌋
into all truth: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as into all truth is more literally “in all the truth.” However, there is little difference between into and “in.” This phrase probably means that the Holy Spirit would teach them all about Jesus and what he did and taught. That would include what had not yet happened, including his death and resurrection.
all truth: This phrase refers to all the truth about Jesus, who is the truth (see 14:6). Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
the full truth (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
all that is true
16:13c
For He will not speak on His own: This clause indicates that the Holy Spirit will not speak based on his own authority. He will not speak his own thoughts, ideas that he has thought up by himself. See also 12:49 and 14:10, where Jesus says something similar about himself and his Father. See how you translated those verses as well. In this context Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit and himself. The Holy Spirit will tell the believers the things that Jesus did not tell them.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
for he will not speak on his own authority (English Standard Version)
-or-
He will not speak his own words (New Century Version)
-or-
He will not teach thoughts that are just his
For: This word introduces the reason that we can know that the Spirit would teach truth. He would not speak without the authority and the words of Jesus and the Father. Translate this word in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
because
16:13d
but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but here connects a negative statement (16:13c) to a positive statement (16:13d). This kind of sentence emphasizes the positive statement. Languages have different ways to indicate this type of emphasis. Here are some ways to show the emphasis:
• Use the conjunction but as in the Berean Standard Bible. For example:
He will not speak his own words, but he will speak only what he hears (New Century Version)
• Use a conjunction other than but. This is a common way in English to show this type of emphasis. For example:
Because he will not speak based on his own authority; instead he will tell what he hears from God.
• Do not use a conjunction. For example:
He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what he hears (God’s Word)
• Change the order of the clauses. For example:
He will tell what he hears, and not his own thoughts.
You should translate this emphasis in the way that is most natural in your language.
He will speak what He hears: This phrase is the positive way of saying 16:13c. It indicates that the Spirit will tell the believers what Jesus tells him to say (see 16:14). In some languages you may want to make explicit that the Holy Spirit will hear from Jesus. For example:
He will tell you only what he has heard from me (Contemporary English Version)
16:13e
and He will declare to you what is to come: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as declare means “to report, announce, proclaim, teach.” The Holy Spirit would teach and guide Jesus’ disciples, explaining to them the things that were to come (would happen in the future). There are two main ways to interpret what this clause means:
(1) The phrase what is to come refers to events that would happen soon, the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. These events were still future when Jesus spoke, but would be in the past when the Holy Spirit came. So this could mean that the Holy Spirit would explain the meaning of Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension.
(2) The phrase what is to come refers to events that would happen much later, such as ones that Revelation records. One English translation implies this meaning:
He will tell you about the future. (New Living Translation (2004))
It is recommended that you leave the meaning ambiguous, referring to future things in general. For example:
He will tell you about the things that will happen.
-or-
He will proclaim/preach the events that will happen.
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.