Bible Strands

John 16:4

But I have told you these things so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus speaks to his disciples during the Farewell Discourse, positioned between his announcement of persecution and his declaration of departure to the Father.

The words — ἵνα (ina) = "so that" and λελὲληκα (lelalēka) = "I have told" bind the verse's syntax, explicitly connecting past speech to future recollection.

The thread — This structure recurs in John 14:29, Mark 13:23, and John 13:19, where advance disclosure is consistently tied to a future moment of memory or belief.

Why it lands — The text demands that readers treat Jesus' prior statements as fixed historical anchors, requiring active recall when hardship arrives rather than passive hope.

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

ἀλλὰallaButταῦταtautathese thingsλελάληκαlelalēkaI have saidὑμῖν,huminto you,ἵναinaso thatὅτανhotanwhenἔλθῃelthēmay have comeἡhētheὥραhōrahourαὐτῶν,autōnof them,μνημονεύητεmnēmoneuēteyou may rememberαὐτῶνautōnthose [things]ὅτιhotithatἐγὼegōI myselfεἶπονeiponsaidὑμῖν.huminto you.ταῦταtautaThese thingsδὲdenowὑμῖνhuminto youἐξexfromἀρχῆςarchēs[the] beginningοὐκouknotεἶπον,eiponI said,ὅτιhotibecauseμεθ᾽meth᾽withὑμῶνhumōnyouἤμην.ēmēnI was.

King James Version

But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

Cross-references