God’s Word Translation
John 15:18
18“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me before it hated you.
John 15:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
- New International Version (NIV)“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
Context of John 15:18
16You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go, to produce fruit that will last, and to ask the Father in my name to give you whatever you ask for. 17Love each other. This is what I’m commanding you to do. “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you had anything in common with the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But you don’t have anything in common with the world. I chose you from the world, and that’s why the world hates you. 20Remember what I told you: ‘A servant isn’t greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they did what I said, they will also do what you say.
Read all of John 15John 15:18 word by word
εἰ ὁ κόσμος ὑμᾶς μισεῖ, γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐμὲ πρῶτον ὑμῶν μεμίσηκεν.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for John 15:18
- John 15:23The person who hates me also hates my Father.
- John 3:20People who do what is wrong hate the light and don’t come to the light. They don’t want their actions to be exposed.
- John 7:7The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I say that what everyone does is evil.
- 1 Kings 22:8The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, “We can ask the Lord through Micaiah, son of Imlah, but I hate him. He doesn’t prophesy anything good about me, only evil.” Jehoshaphat answered, “The king must not say that.”
- Isaiah 49:7The Lord is the defender of Israel, its Holy One. This is what the Lord says to the despised one, to the one scorned by the nation, to the slave of rulers: Kings will see ⌞you⌟ and stand. Princes will see ⌞you⌟ and bow. The Lord is faithful. The Holy One of Israel has chosen you.
- Isaiah 53:3He was despised and rejected by people. He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, and we didn’t consider him to be worth anything.
- Zechariah 11:8I got rid of three shepherds in one month. I became impatient with the sheep, and they also became disgusted with me.
- Matthew 5:11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, lie, and say all kinds of evil things about you because of me.
- Matthew 10:22Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me. But the person who patiently endures to the end will be saved.
- Matthew 24:9“Then they will hand you over to those who will torture and kill you. All nations will hate you because you are committed to me.
- Mark 13:13Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.
- Luke 6:22Blessed are you when people hate you, avoid you, insult you, and slander you because you are committed to the Son of Man.
- Hebrews 12:2We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith. He saw the joy ahead of him, so he endured death on the cross and ignored the disgrace it brought him. Now he holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne.
- James 4:4You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that love for this ⌞evil⌟ world is hatred toward God? Whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.
- 1 John 3:1Consider this: The Father has given us his love. He loves us so much that we are actually called God’s dear children. And that’s what we are. For this reason the world doesn’t recognize us, and it didn’t recognize him either.
Commentaries on John 15:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18If the world hate you - As the followers of Christ were to be exposed to the hatred of the world, it was no small consolation to them to know that that hatred would be only in proportion to their faith and holiness; and that, consequently, instead of being troubled at the prospect of persecution, they should rejoice, because that should always be a proof to them that they were in the very path in which Jesus himself had trod. Dr. Lardner thinks that is a…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18If the world hate you - The friendship of the world they were not to expect, but they were not to be deterred from their work by its hatred. They had seen the example of Jesus. No opposition of the proud, the wealthy, the learned, or the men of power, no persecution or gibes, had deterred him from his work. Remembering this, and having his example steadily in the eye, they were to labor not less because wicked men should oppose and deride them. It is…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-25Verses 18-25 How little do many persons think, that in opposing the doctrine of Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, they prove themselves ignorant of the one living and true God, whom they profess to worship! The name into which Christ's disciples were baptized, is that which they will live and die by. It is a comfort to the greatest sufferers, if they suffer for Christ's name's sake. The world's ignorance is the true cause of its hatred to the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18-27Disciples must be like their master in every way. They must show love and obedience and experience opposition from those against their message (15:20–21; see 9:1–41; 11:16). Darkness opposes light (1:5). The followers of Jesus carry that light in the world (1 John 1:7; 2:9). They should expect the world to hate them in the way it hated Jesus (see John 17:14). The disciples of Jesus share his separation from and conflict with the world.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 17-2117-21. The substance of these important verses has occurred more than once before. (See on Mt 10:34-36; Lu 12:49-53, &c.).Read the comment
Topics related to John 15:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on John 15
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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