Discovery BoxJohn 16:17-18 
Context16:17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, 1 ‘In a little while you 2 will not see me; again after a little while, you 3 will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 4 16:18 So they kept on repeating, 5 “What is the meaning of what he says, 6 ‘In a little while’? 7 We do not understand 8 what he is talking about.” 9
1 tn Grk “What is this that he is saying to us.”
2 tn Grk “A little while, and you.”
3 tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”
4 sn These fragmentary quotations of Jesus’ statements are from 16:16 and 16:10, and indicate that the disciples heard only part of what Jesus had to say to them on this occasion.
5 tn Grk “they kept on saying.”
6 tn Grk “What is this that he says.”
7 tn Grk “A little while.” Although the phrase τὸ μικρόν (to mikron) in John 16:18 could be translated simply “a little while,” it was translated “in a little while” to maintain the connection to John 16:16, where it has the latter meaning in context.
8 tn Or “we do not know.”
9 tn Grk “what he is speaking.”
