Iohannem 15
1 Ego sum vitis vera: et Pater meus agricola est.
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.
2 Omnem palmitem in me non ferentem fructum, tollet eum: et omnem, qui fert fructum, purgabit eum, ut fructum plus afferat.
Any unfruitful branch in me he takes away, and he cleanses every fruitful branch, so that it may bear more fruit.
3 Iam vos mundi estis propter sermonem, quem locutus sum vobis.
You are already clean because of the message that I have given you.
4 Manete in me: et ego in vobis. Sicut palmes non potest fere fructum a semetipso, nisi manserit in vite: sic nec vos, nisi in me manseritis.
Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains united to the vine; no more can you, unless you remain united to me.
5 Ego sum vitis, vos palmites: qui manet in me, et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum: quia sine me nihil potestis facere.
I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remains united to me, while I remain united to you – you bear fruit plentifully; for you can do nothing apart from me.
6 Si quis in me non manserit: mittetur foras sicut palmes, et arescet, et colligent eum, et in ignem mittent, et ardet.
If anyone does not remain united to me, they are thrown away, as a branch would be, and withers up. Such branches are collected and thrown into the fire, and are burnt.
7 Si manseritis in me, et verba mea in vobis manserint: quodcumque volueritis petetis, et fiet vobis.
If you remain united to me, and my teaching remains in your hearts, ask whatever you wish, and it will be yours.
8 In hoc clarificatus est Pater meus, ut fructum plurimum afferatis, et efficiamini mei discipuli.
It is by your bearing fruit plentifully, and so showing yourselves my disciples, that my Father is honoured.
9 Sicut dilexit me Pater, et ego dilexi vos. Manete in dilectione mea.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; remain in my love.
10 Si præcepta mea servaveritis, manebitis in dilectione mea, sicut et ego Patris mei præcepta servavi, et maneo in eius dilectione.
If you lay my commands to heart, you will remain in my love; just as I have laid the Father’s commands to heart and remain in his love.
11 Hæc locutus sum vobis: ut gaudium meum in vobis sit, et gaudium vestrum impleatur.
I have told you all this so that my own joy may be yours, and that your joy may be complete.
12 Hoc est præceptum meum ut diligatis invicem, sicut dilexi vos.
This is my command – love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Maiorem hac dilectionem nemo habet, ut animam suam ponat qui pro amicis suis.
No one can give greater proof of love than by laying down their life for their friends.
14 Vos amici mei estis, si feceritis quæ ego præcipio vobis.
And you are my friends, if you do what I command you.
15 Iam non dicam vos servos: quia servus nescit quid faciat dominus eius. Vos autem dixi amicos: quia omnia quæcumque audivi a Patre meo, nota feci vobis.
I no longer call you “servants,” because a servant does not know what their master is doing; but I have given you the name of “friends,” because I made known to you everything that I learned from my Father.
16 Non vos me elegistis: sed ego elegi vos, et posui vos ut eatis, et fructum afferatis: et fructus vester maneat: ut quodcumque petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, det vobis.
It wasn’t you who chose me, but I who chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that should remain, so that the Father might grant you whatever you ask in my name.
17 Hæc mando vobis, ut diligatis invicem.
I am giving you these commands that you may love one another.
18 Si mundus vos odit: scitote quia me priorem vobis odio habuit.
If the world hates you, you know that it has first hated me.
19 Si de mundo fuissetis: mundus quod suum erat diligeret: quia vero de mundo non estis, sed ego elegi vos de mundo, propterea odit vos mundus.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – that is why the world hates you.
20 Mementote sermonis mei, quem ego dixi vobis: non est servus maior domino suo. Si me persecuti sunt, et vos persequentur: si sermonem meum servaverunt, et vestrum servabunt.
Remember what I said to you – “A servant is not greater than their master.” If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have laid my message to heart, they will lay yours to heart also.
21 Sed hæc omnia facient vobis propter nomen meum: quia nesciunt eum, qui misit me.
But they will do all this to you, because you believe in my name, for they do not know him who sent me.
22 Si non venissem, et locutus fuissem eis, peccatum non haberent: nunc autem excusationem non habent de peccato suo.
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin to answer for; but as it is, they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Qui me odit: et Patrem meum odit.
The person who hates me hates my Father also.
24 Si opera non fecissem in eis, quæ nemo alius fecit, peccatum non haberent: nunc autem et viderunt, et oderunt et me, et Patrem meum.
If I had not done among them such work as no one else ever did, they would have had no sin to answer for; but, as it is, they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 Sed ut adimpleatur sermo, qui in lege eorum scriptus est: Quia odio habuerunt me gratis.
And so is fulfilled what is said in their Law – “They hated me without cause.”
26 Cum autem venerit Paraclitus, quem ego mittam vobis a Patre, Spiritum veritatis, qui a Patre procedit, ille testimonium perhibebit de me:
But, when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth, who comes from the Father – will bear testimony to me;
27 et vos testimonium perhibebitis, quia ab initio mecum estis.
yes, and you also are to bear testimony, because you have been with me from the first.
