John 16 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The warning against falling away 16:1–4

vv. 1–2 — told in advance: expulsion, and killing as worship

These things I have spoken to youindependent — asyndeton resumes the discourse from ch. 15's world-hatred; intensive perfect λελάληκα — the word stands on record (again vv. 4, 6, 25, 33)

so that you may not be caused to stumble.purpose — the protective aim — σκανδαλίζω: falling away under persecution, not mere offense

They will make you outcasts from the synagogue;independent — double accusative — ἀποσυνάγωγος, John's own word in the NT (9:22; 12:42): formal communal expulsion

indeed, an hour is comingindependent — ἀλλά ascensive — worse than expulsion; ὥρα ἔρχεται, the Johannine formula (4:21, 23; 5:25, 28; 16:25, 32)

when everyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God.content — epexegetic ἵνα defining the hour (Johannine idiom) — λατρείαν προσφέρειν, the murder framed as cultic offering: persecution's sharpest irony

vv. 3–4 — the root is ignorance; told now, to be remembered then

And these things they will doindependent — continuative καί — the persecution just named, resumed by ταῦτα

because they have not known the Father, nor me.cause — the theological root of persecution — ignorance of God (8:19; 15:21); emphatic οὐκ … οὐδέ

But these things I have spoken to you,independent — the opening frame of v. 1 returns and closes the unit

so that when their hour comes you may remember them —purpose — prospective memory as pastoral preparation (cf. 13:19; 14:29); the internal ὅταν-temporal kept in-line; αὐτῶν — the persecutors' own hour

that I told you.content — the content remembered — emphatic ἐγώ: the warning bears his signature

But these things I did not say to you from the beginning,independent — fronted Ταῦτα for contrast — ἐξ ἀρχῆς, from the ministry's start

because I was with you.cause — his presence had absorbed the world's hatred; the departure now makes the warning necessary

The departure and the Paraclete's threefold conviction 16:5–15

vv. 5–7 — the departure that profits: unless I go, the Paraclete does not come

But now I am going to the one who sent me,independent — νῦν δέ — the hinge from warning to departure; ὑπάγω, the Johannine verb of the return to the Father (7:33; 13:3; 14:28)

and none of you asks me:independent — the complaint stands despite 13:36 and 14:5 — those askings sought their own loss, not his goal

'Where are you going?'content — the unasked question, quoted — direct discourse under ἐρωτᾷ

But because I have spoken these things to you,cause — fronted causal — forward-leaning on πεπλήρωκεν; ὅτι after ἀλλά read as 'because': the grief explains the silence

sorrow has filled your heart.independent — intensive perfect — λύπη, keyword of vv. 20–22, has done the filling that joy was meant to do (15:11; 16:24)

But I tell you the truth:independent — the solemn truth-formula (cf. 8:45–46) — emphatic ἐγώ set against their grief

it is to your advantagecontent — impersonal συμφέρει — Caiaphas's cynical word (11:50) spoken truly

that I go away.content — epexegetic ἵνα as subject-clause — the departure itself is the profit

For if I do not go away,conditional — first protasis, forward-leaning — γάρ grounds the συμφέρει claim

the Paraclete will not come to you;independent — the stark condition — no departure, no Paraclete: the Spirit's coming belongs to the completed work

but if I go,conditional — the answering protasis, forward-leaning on πέμψω

I will send him to you.independent — Jesus himself sends (with 15:26; the Father sends in his name, 14:26) — both are true

vv. 8–11 — one verb, three convictions: sin, righteousness, judgment

And when he comes, he will convict the worldindependent — ἐκεῖνος — the emphatic personal pronoun for the Paraclete (14:26; 15:26); ἐλέγξει read forensically ('convict'), though 'expose' and 'convince' are live; temporal ἐλθών kept in-line

concerning sin,phrase modifier — first count of the indictment

and concerning righteousness,phrase modifier — second count

and concerning judgment.phrase modifier — third count — vv. 9–11 take up each in turn

concerning sin, on the one hand,phrase modifier — the triad resumed — μέν opening the μέν … δέ … δέ series

because they do not believe in me;cause — sin defined as unbelief — the root sin of which all others are symptoms (πιστεύειν εἰς, the Johannine faith-formula)

concerning righteousness, on the other,phrase modifier — second member of the series

because I go to the Father and you see me no longer;cause — righteousness defined by vindication — the Father's reception of the Son reverses the world's verdict at the cross

and concerning judgment,phrase modifier — third member

because the ruler of this world has been judged.cause — perfect κέκριται — the verdict already rendered at the cross (12:31), its execution pending

vv. 12–15 — the Spirit of truth: guide, spokesman, glorifier

I have yet many things to say to you,independent — the discourse confesses its own incompleteness

but you cannot bear them now.independent — βαστάζω — weight-bearing language; ἄρτι, 'just now': capacity awaits the Spirit

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,conditional — fronted ὅταν (typed cnd; no temporal key) — forward-leaning on ὁδηγήσει; τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας in apposition, kept in-line

he will guide you into all the truth;independent — ὁδηγέω — the way-guide (cf. Ps 24:5 LXX); ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πάσῃ (the variant εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν amounts to the same sense)

for he will not speak from himself,cause — the guide's credential — like the Son (7:17–18; 14:10), the Spirit is no independent oracle

but whatever he hears he will speak,cause — the answering ἀλλά-half of the γάρ ground — the relative ὅσα kept in-line

and the things that are coming he will declare to you.cause — third member of the ground — ἀναγγελεῖ, the chapter's disclosure-verb (vv. 13, 14, 15, 25)

He will glorify me,independent — emphatic ἐκεῖνος again — the Spirit's whole office is Christward

because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.cause — the glorifying explained — reception and declaration, not addition

All that the Father has is mine;independent — the widest claim of the discourse — internal relative kept in-line; what is 'mine' is nothing less than the Father's all

therefore I saidindependent — διὰ τοῦτο — v. 14 restated on its trinitarian ground

that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.content — present λαμβάνει beside future ἀναγγελεῖ — the taking timeless, the telling to come

The little-while riddle and Jesus' answer 16:16–28

v. 16 — the μικρόν saying

A little while, and you no longer see me,independent — the riddle — the first μικρόν: to the cross; the shorter text is read (without 'because I go to the Father,' absent from P22 ℵ B — a harmonization from vv. 10, 17)

and again a little while, and you will see me.independent — the second μικρόν: to Easter — θεωρεῖτε gives way to ὄψεσθε, the seeing of the risen one (20:18, 20, 25)

vv. 17–19 — the murmured question, and Jesus reads it

So some of his disciples said to one another:independent — the discourse breaks for the first time since 14:22 — partitive ἐκ as subject; they murmur to each other, not to him

'What is thiscontent — the puzzled question — τί ἐστιν τοῦτο, the refrain of vv. 17–18

that he is saying to us:relative — the relative isolating the offending words

"A little while, and you do not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me";content — v. 16 quoted back nearly verbatim (οὐ for οὐκέτι) — a quotation inside their quotation

and, "Because I am going to the Father"?'content — recitative ὅτι — they splice in v. 10's ὑπάγω-saying: the two riddles fused

So they were saying:independent — iterative imperfect — the puzzlement circles

'What is thiscontent — the question repeated, now shrunk to the one word

that he says — the "little while"?relative — τὸ μικρόν, the cited word held up with its article

We do not knowcontent — the flat confession of incomprehension

what he is talking about.'content — indirect question under οἴδαμεν

Jesus knewindependent — the knower of hearts (2:24–25) — no one has voiced the question to him

that they wanted to ask him,content — imperfect ἤθελον — the wish they could not bring themselves to act on

and he said to them:independent — the frame that carries the whole answer — vv. 20–28 hang from this εἶπεν

'Is it about this that you are inquiring with one another —content — he voices their unasked question for them

that I said:content — epexegetic ὅτι on τούτου — the referent spelled out

"A little while, and you do not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me"?content — the riddle's third sounding — now on Jesus' own lips, ready to be answered

vv. 20–22 — sorrow into joy: the woman in labor

Truly, truly, I say to youcontent — the double amen — the answer begins not with the timetable but with what the interval will feel like

that you will weep and lament,content — funeral verbs — κλαίω and θρηνέω, the vocabulary of mourning the dead (cf. 20:11)

but the world will rejoice;content — the cross as the world's brief festival — coordinate member of the ὅτι-content

you will be grieved,content — λυπέω — the λύπη of v. 6 becomes a passion prediction

but your sorrow will turn into joy.content — not replaced but transformed — εἰς χαρὰν γενήσεται: the same event, the cross seen from Easter, becomes the joy

The woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow,comparative — the labor comparison, forward-leaning on v. 22's 'you also' — birth-pangs as the eschatological figure (Isa 26:17; 66:7–14); the internal ὅταν kept in-line

because her hour has come;cause — ἡ ὥρα αὐτῆς — the woman too has her 'hour': the figure quietly carries the passion-word

but when she has delivered the child,conditional — fronted ὅταν (typed cnd; no temporal key) — forward-leaning on μνημονεύει

she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joycomparative — second panel of the comparison, still leaning on v. 22 — θλῖψις anticipates v. 33

that a human being has been born into the world.content — epexegetic ὅτι on χαρά — the joy's content; ἄνθρωπος εἰς τὸν κόσμον, resonant Johannine birth-language (1:9)

So you also have sorrow now;content — the application the cmp leans on — νῦν μέν against the coming δέ: the disciples stand in the labor-hour

but I will see you again,content — the reversal of v. 16 — not only 'you will see me': I will see you; the seeing is mutual and his side is sure

and your heart will rejoice,content — Isa 66:14 LXX nearly verbatim — the new-Jerusalem comfort oracle behind the whole figure

and your joy no one takes from you.content — present αἴρει — the un-takeable joy; what the world could take, it already has

vv. 23–24 — in that day: ask the Father in my name

And in that day you will ask me nothing.content — ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ — the prophets' formula for the eschatological day, here Easter and after; ἐρωτάω of question-asking: the riddles will be over

Truly, truly, I say to you:content — second double amen of the answer — from questions (ἐρωτάω) to petitions (αἰτέω)

whatever you ask the Father in my name,conditional — ἄν (= ἐάν) protasis, forward-leaning on δώσει — prayer in the name at its fullest Johannine form (14:13–14; 15:16)

he will give it to you.content — the Father himself gives — the promise vv. 26–27 will unfold

Until now you have asked nothing in my name.content — the era-marker — in-the-name asking begins only with the completed departure

Ask,content — durative present imperative — keep asking

and you will receive,content — imperative + future — the Semitic conditional-promise pairing (cf. Matt 7:7)

so that your joy may be made full.purpose — periphrastic perfect — joy filled full and staying so (15:11; 17:13): the section's λύπη-to-χαρά arc lands here

vv. 25–28 — figures give way to plain speech: the departure-formula

These things I have spoken to you in figures;content — παροιμία — the veiled, riddling saying (10:6): the μικρόν and the laboring woman included

an hour is comingcontent — the formula again — now the good hour

when I will no longer speak to you in figures,relative — temporal ὅτε on ὥρα (typed rel) — the post-Easter, Spirit-taught speech

but will tell you plainly about the Father.relative — the ὅτε-clause's answering half — παρρησίᾳ, open speech: the παροιμία/παρρησία antithesis

In that day you will ask in my name,content — the promise of v. 23 resumed — middle αἰτήσεσθε, asking for yourselves

and I do not say to youcontent — the startling negation — the promise is not that Jesus will lobby a reluctant Father

that I will ask the Father on your behalf;content — not a denial of intercession (14:16; 17:9; cf. 1 John 2:1) but of its necessity as persuasion

for the Father himself loves you,cause — the ground of the not-saying — αὐτός: the Father's love needs no procuring; φιλέω of the Father's own affection

because you have loved mecause — perfect πεφιλήκατε — a standing attachment; the love's correlate, not its meritorious cause

and have believedcause — the paired perfect — love and faith, the disciples' two standing postures

that I came forth from God.content — the creed in miniature — the confession v. 30 will echo

I came forth from the Fathercontent — the departure-formula, first arc — the plainest παρρησία of the chapter, given ahead of the promised hour

and have come into the world;content — perfect ἐλήλυθα — the incarnation as abiding fact

again, I am leaving the worldcontent — the chiasm turns — Father, world / world, Father

and am going to the Father.content — the whole Johannine plot in four clauses — descent and return complete

The confession, the scattering, and the victory-word 16:29–33

vv. 29–30 — the disciples' confession: now you speak plainly

His disciples say to him:independent — historic present — the dialogue frame returns for their glad (and premature) confession

'See, now you are speaking plainly,content — they claim v. 25's promised hour as already arrived — the νῦν is the confession's overreach

and are telling no figure at all.content — emphatic οὐδεμίαν — the παροιμία/παρρησία pair taken from his own lips

Now we knowcontent — the second νῦν — knowledge claimed on the spot

that you know all thingscontent — his reading of their unasked question (v. 19) is the evidence

and have no needcontent — coordinate with οἶδας under the same knowing

that anyone should question you;content — epexegetic ἵνα on χρεία — he answers before he is asked

by this we believecontent — ἐν τούτῳ — faith resting on the demonstration just witnessed

that you came forth from God.'content — v. 27's creed echoed back — true words whose weight they have not yet felt

vv. 31–33 — the answer: scattered, yet not alone — take heart

Jesus answered them:independent — the final frame of the discourse — vv. 31b–33 hang from this ἀπεκρίθη

'Do you believe just now?content — read as an ironic question — ἄρτι catches up their double νῦν: belief claimed on the brink of desertion

Behold, an hour is coming — and has come —content — the formula for the last time, now with perfect ἐλήλυθεν: Gethsemane is minutes away

when you will be scattered, each to his own,content — epexegetic ἵνα defining the hour (as v. 2) — Zech 13:7's scattered sheep (cf. Mark 14:27, which John evokes without citing)

and will leave me alone;content — the believers' desertion answers their confession

and yet I am not alone,content — adversative καί — the solitude immediately unsaid

because the Father is with me.cause — the abandonment is human only (8:29) — John's counterpart to, not contradiction of, the synoptic cry

These things I have spoken to youcontent — the discourse's refrain, final occurrence — ταῦτα now the whole Farewell Discourse

so that in me you may have peace.purpose — the aim of it all — εἰρήνη located ἐν ἐμοί against the world's tribulation (14:27)

In the world you have tribulation;content — the two spheres set side by side — ἐν ἐμοί peace, ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλῖψις (the laboring woman's word, v. 21)

but take heart —content — θαρσεῖτε — courage commanded on the eve of the cross; John's only use of the synoptic cheer-word

I have overcome the world.'content — perfect νενίκηκα — the victory spoken as already won before Gethsemane; the word 1 John 5:4–5 hands on to believers

Analysis. John 16 continues the Farewell Discourse mid-speech, so — on the matthew6/matthew25 mid-sermon convention — Jesus' own clauses stand flush-left at depth 0 from v. 1 through v. 16 with no frame above them, and only what the speech itself quotes indents (the unasked Ποῦ ὑπάγεις; of v. 5). The first half's shape is the ἐλέγξει diagram: the one verb of v. 8 carries six hanging lines — the three verbless περί-counts of the indictment and their three resumptions in vv. 9–11, each with its defining ὅτι one step deeper (sin as unbelief, righteousness as the vindicating departure, judgment as the ruler already judged, perfect κέκριται). The layout takes ἐλέγξει forensically ('convict'), while naming 'expose' and 'convince'; reads v. 6's ἀλλ' ὅτι as a fronted causal, forward-leaning; and prints v. 16 in its shorter form (without 'because I go to the Father,' absent from P22 ℵ B — a harmonization from vv. 10, 17). At v. 17 the discourse breaks for the first time since 14:22: dialogue frames enter, the disciples' murmured Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο nests under εἶπαν/ἔλεγον with the μικρόν-saying quoted inside their quotation, and Jesus' whole answer (vv. 20–28) runs as a single cnt catena on the one εἶπεν of v. 19 — inside it the laboring woman leans forward as an anchorless cmp on v. 22's 'you also,' the ἄν-protasis of v. 23 leans on δώσει, and the four-clause departure-chiasm of v. 28 closes the catena at speech level. The final exchange sets the disciples' confession (vv. 29–30, under Λέγουσιν) against Jesus' reply (vv. 31–33, under ἀπεκρίθη), where Ἄρτι πιστεύετε; is read as an ironic question, the ἵνα of v. 32 (like v. 2's) is epexegetic of ὥρα, and the chapter ends with θαρσεῖτε and the perfect νενίκηκα — the victory spoken as finished before the arrest.