John 16:8

Easy-to-Read Version

"When the Helper comes, he will show the people of the world how wrong they are about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment:

King James Version (1611)
And when he is come, he will reproue the world of sinne, and of righteousnesse, and of iudgement.

King James Version
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

English Standard Version
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

New American Standard Bible
"And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment:

New Century Version
When the Helper comes, he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment.

Amplified Bible
"And He, when He comes, will convict the world about [the guilt of] sin [and the need for a Savior], and about righteousness, and about judgment:

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

Legacy Standard Bible
And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

Berean Standard Bible
And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:

Contemporary English Version
The Spirit will come and show the people of this world the truth about sin and God's justice and the judgment.

Complete Jewish Bible
"When he comes, he will show that the world is wrong about sin, about righteousness and about judgment —

Darby Translation
And having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Geneva Bible (1587)
And when he is come, he will reproue the worlde of sinne, and of righteousnesse, and of iudgement.

George Lamsa Translation
And when he is come, he will rebuke the world concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment.

Good News Translation
And when he comes, he will prove to the people of the world that they are wrong about sin and about what is right and about God's judgment.

Lexham English Bible
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment:

Literal Translation
And having come, that One will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment.

American Standard Version
And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Bible in Basic English
And he, when he comes, will make the world conscious of sin, and of righteousness, and of being judged:

Hebrew Names Version
When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;

International Standard Version
When he comes, he will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment -

Etheridge Translation
And when he hath come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

Murdock Translation
And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And whe he is come, he wyll rebuke the world of sinne, and of righteousnes, and of iudgement.

English Revised Version
And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

World English Bible
When he has come, he will convict the world in respect to sin, and righteousness, and judgment;

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And he coming will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Weymouth's New Testament
And He, when He comes, will convict the world in respect of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement; --

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne he cometh, he schal repreue the world of synne, and of riytwisnesse, and of doom.

Update Bible Version
And he, when he has come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Webster's Bible Translation
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

New English Translation
And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment—

New King James Version
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

New Living Translation
And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God's righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

New Life Bible
When the Helper comes, He will show the world the truth about sin. He will show the world about being right with God. And He will show the world what it is to be guilty.

New Revised Standard
And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, having come, He, will reprove the world - Concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when he is come, he will convince the world of sin and of justice and of judgment.

Revised Standard Version
And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And when he is come he will rebuke ye worlde of synne and of rightwesnes and of iudgement.

Young's Literal Translation
and having come, He will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And whan he commeth, he shal rebuke the worlde of synne, and of righteousnes, & of iudgment.

Mace New Testament (1729)
and when he is come, he will convince the world of sin, of justice, of judgment:

THE MESSAGE
"When he comes, he'll expose the error of the godless world's view of sin, righteousness, and judgment: He'll show them that their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin; that righteousness comes from above, where I am with the Father, out of their sight and control; that judgment takes place as the ruler of this godless world is brought to trial and convicted.

Simplified Cowboy Version
When he gets here, he's gonna show people three things: sin, being right with God, and the judgment that waits for unbelievers.

Contextual Overview

⁷ Let me assure you, it is better for you that I go away. I say this because when I go away I will send the Helper to you. But if I did not go, the Helper would not come. ⁸ "When the Helper comes, he will show the people of the world how wrong they are about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment. ⁹ He will prove that they are guilty of sin, because they don't believe in me. ¹⁰ He will show them how wrong they are about how to be right with God. The Helper will do this, because I am going to the Father. You will not see me then. ¹¹ And he will show them how wrong their judgment is, because their leader has already been condemned. ¹² "I have so much more to tell you, but it is too much for you to accept now. ¹³ But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words. He will speak only what he hears and will tell you what will happen in the future. ¹⁴ The Spirit of truth will bring glory to me by telling you what he receives from me. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will tell you what he receives from me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

he will: Zechariah 12:10, Acts 2:37, Acts 16:29, Acts 16:30

reprove: or, convince, John 8:9, John 8:46, 1 Corinthians 14:24, Jude 1:15

Reciprocal: Leviticus 13:12 - cover all Psalms 98:2 - righteousness Isaiah 2:4 - And he Isaiah 4:4 - by the spirit Isaiah 51:4 - I will make Micah 4:3 - he shall judge John 12:31 - is Acts 24:25 - righteousness Romans 8:15 - the spirit 1 Corinthians 2:4 - but 1 Corinthians 2:14 - the things Galatians 5:5 - through Philippians 3:9 - the righteousness 1 Timothy 3:16 - justified James 2:9 - are

Cross-References

Genesis 3:9
The Lord God called to the man and said, "Where are you?"

Genesis 4:10
Then the Lord said, "What have you done? You killed your brother and the ground opened up to take his blood from your hands. Now his blood is shouting to me from the ground. So you will be cursed from this ground.

Genesis 16:1
Sarai was Abram's wife, but she did not have any children. She had an Egyptian slave named Hagar.

Genesis 16:2
Sarai told Abram, "The Lord has not allowed me to have children, so sleep with my slave. Maybe she can have a son, and I will accept him as my own." Abram did what Sarai said.

Genesis 16:4
Abram slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar realized this, she became very proud and began to feel that she was better than Sarai her owner.

Genesis 16:5
Then Sarai said to Abram, "My slave girl now hates me, and I blame you for this. I gave her to you, and she became pregnant. Then she began to feel that she is better than I am. I want the Lord to judge which of us is right."

Genesis 16:8
The angel said, "Hagar, Sarai's slave girl, why are you here? Where are you going?" Hagar said, "I am running away from Sarai."

1 Samuel 26:19
My lord the king, listen to me. If the Lord caused you to be angry with me, let him accept an offering. But if men caused you to be angry with me, I ask the Lord to curse them because they forced me to leave the land that the Lord gave me and told me to go serve other gods.

Ecclesiastes 10:4
Don't quit your job simply because the boss is angry with you. If you remain calm and helpful, you can correct even great mistakes.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when he is come,.... The coming of the Spirit here, chiefly designs his descent upon the apostles, at the day of "Pentecost": as the things ascribed to him, and which were then done by him, clearly show; though it may also include his coming along with, and by the ministration of the Gospel, into the hearts of his people at conversion, in all after ages of time:

he will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: by "the world" is principally meant, the Jews; the world among whom Christ personally was, who knew him not, disbelieved him, rejected him as the Messiah, hated and persecuted him, even unto death; though not to the exclusion of the Gentiles, the whole world that lies in wickedness; since both joined, and were concerned in these things, and reproved of them; which "reproving", as it may respect different persons, may intend both such reproofs and convictions, as are not attended with conversion, and issue in salvation; and such as are powerful, spiritual, and to saving purposes: the several things the Spirit of God is said to reprove of, being repeated in the following verses, with reasons or specifications annexed to them, will be there considered.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He will reprove - The word translated “reprove” means commonly to demonstrate by argument, to prove, to persuade anyone to do a thing by presenting reasons. It hence means also to convince of anything, and particularly to convince of crime. This is its meaning here. He will convince or convict the world of sin. That is, he will so apply the truths of God to men’s own minds as to convince them by fair and sufficient arguments that they are sinners, and cause them to feel this. This is the nature of conviction always.

The world - Sinners. The men of the world. All men are by nature sinners, and the term the world may be applied to them all, John 1:10; John 12:31; 1 John 5:19.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 16:8. He will reprove — ελεγξει, He will demonstrate these matters so clearly as to leave no doubt on the minds of those who are simple of heart; and so fully as to confound and shut the mouths of those who are gainsayers. See Acts 2:1, c.

The world — The Jewish nation first, and afterwards the Gentile world for his influences shall not be confined to one people, place, or time.