John 16:22

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples directly (ὑμεῖς, "you yourselves") in the upper room discourse, between the childbirth illustration (v. 21) and the promise of answered prayer (v. 23), naming their present grief over his coming departure.

The words — λῦπην (lypen) is concrete, bodily grief, not abstract sadness; πάλιν (palin, "again") is the hinge that makes the promise a return, not a new event.

The thread — The same tension of present sorrow and secure joy appears in 1 Peter 1:8 (rejoicing without seeing) and Acts 13:52 (joy and the Spirit together); John 16:6 confirms the disciples' hearts were already "filled with sorrow" at this point.

Why it lands — The verse does not ask the reader to feel joy now; it asserts that the joy to come is structurally unassailable ("no one will take away"), which means present grief is real but not final.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

Cross-references

1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
Acts 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
John 16:6 Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow because I have told you these things.
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,
Psalms 146:2 I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Isaiah 25:9 And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.
Isaiah 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”
Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,