Jesus the True Vine (Isaiah 27:1–13)
1 UST “I am like a genuine vine{ that grows fruit}. My Father is like a gardener{ who takes care of it}. BSB BSB: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.
2 UST My Father cuts off and removes every branch that seems to be part of me but does not produce fruit. As for every branch that produces fruit, he cleans it by pruning it so that it may produce even more fruit. BSB BSB: He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
3 UST You are like branches that have already been cleaned by pruning because of the teaching that I have told you before. BSB BSB: You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 UST Stay united with me, and I will stay united with you. As the branch cannot produce any fruit unless it stays attached to the vine, so you cannot produce spiritual fruit unless you stay united with me. BSB BSB: Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.
5 UST I am like the vine; you are like the branches. If you stay united with me and I stay united with you, you will produce a lot of fruit.{ This is true} because you cannot do anything without my help. BSB BSB: I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 UST As for anyone who does not stay united with me, that person is like a branch that the gardener cuts off and throws away. After such branches dry up, the gardener’ s workers pick them up and throw them into a fire and burn them up. BSB BSB: If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 UST If you stay united with me and obey what I have taught you, you can request anything from God that you want, and he will grant your request. BSB BSB: If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 UST You show people how great my Father is by producing a lot of fruit and being my disciples. BSB BSB: This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.
No Greater Love 9 UST I have loved you in the same way that my Father has loved me. Now keep living in a way that is appropriate for those whom I love. BSB BSB: As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love.
10 UST If you obey what I have commanded you, you will be acting in a way that is appropriate for those whom I love, just like I have obeyed what my Father has commanded me, and I act in a way that is appropriate for someone whom he loves. BSB BSB: If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
11 UST I told you these things in order that you may be as joyful as I am and{ in order that} you may be joyful to the greatest degree. BSB BSB: I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
12 UST This is what I am commanding you to do: Love each other in the way that I have loved you. BSB BSB: This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 UST No one has greater love than a person who is willing to die for his friends. BSB BSB: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
14 UST You are really my friends if you keep doing what I have commanded you to do. BSB BSB: You are My friends if you do what I command you.
15 UST I am not going to call you my servants any longer, because a servant does not understand what his master is doing. I now call you friends, because I have made you understand everything that my Father has told me. BSB BSB: No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.
16 UST You did not choose{ to be my disciples}. Rather, I chose you{ to be my disciples} and assigned you{ to this role} in order that you would go out and produce spiritual fruit and{ in order that} the fruit you produce should last forever.{ I also chose you} in order that my Father would give you everything that you request from him as my representatives. BSB BSB: You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
17 UST I command you to do these things in order that you would love one another. BSB BSB: This is My command to you: Love one another.
The Hatred of the World 18 UST Since the people who oppose God in the world detest you, you must realize that they detested me first. BSB BSB: If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
19 UST If you were part of the people who oppose God in the world, those unbelievers would love you as they love their own. However, I chose you to come out from among them. The people who oppose God in the world detest you because you are not part of them. BSB BSB: If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
20 UST Remember that I told you that a servant is not more important than his master. Since they have caused me to suffer, they will certainly cause you to suffer as well. If any of them have obeyed my teaching, they will also obey what you teach. BSB BSB: Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
21 UST Yet the unbelievers in this world will do all these hateful things to you because you represent me{ and} because they do not know my Father who has sent me here. BSB BSB: But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.
22 UST If I had not come and taught them{ God’ s truth}, they would not have been guilty{ of rejecting me and my message}. However,{ since I have come and taught them}, now they do not have any excuse for their sin. BSB BSB: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
23 UST Whoever detests me also detests my Father. BSB BSB: Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.
24 UST If I had not performed miraculous works among them that no one else has ever done, they would not be guilty of sin. Yet, as it is, they have seen these works and detest me. They also detest my Father. BSB BSB: If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.
25 UST However, this has happened in order that these words that a prophet wrote in their scriptures would come true:‘They hated me for no reason.’ BSB BSB: But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
27 UST You also must tell everyone about me, because you have been with me since the very first days when I began my work.” BSB BSB: And you also must testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.