John 16:18 (LSB)

Passage

So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.”

Nearby Context

John 16:16 “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”

John 16:17 Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”

John 16:18 So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.”

John 16:19 Jesus knew that they were wishing to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?

John 16:20 Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will cry and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "saying", "says", "little", and "talking". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "saying" and "says", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Some of His disciples then said to..." into verse 19's "Jesus knew that they were wishing to...", so "saying" and "says" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "saying" and "says" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.