John 16:20 (LSB)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

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.

John 16:21 Whenever a woman is in labor she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.

John 16:22 Therefore you too have sorrow now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "world", "truly", "lament", "rejoice", "sorrowful", and "turned". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "world" and "truly", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "Jesus knew that they were wishing to..." into verse 21's "Whenever a woman is in labor she...", so "world" and "truly" 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 "world" and "truly" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.