John 16:20 (YLT)

Passage

verily, verily, I say to you, that ye shall weep and lament, and the world will rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow joy will become.

Nearby Context

John 16:18 they said then, `What is this he saith--the little while? we have not known what he saith.'

John 16:19 Jesus, therefore, knew that they were wishing to ask him, and he said to them, `Concerning this do ye seek one with another, because I said, A little while, and you do not behold me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me?

John 16:20 verily, verily, I say to you, that ye shall weep and lament, and the world will rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow joy will become.

John 16:21 `The woman, when she may bear, hath sorrow, because her hour did come, and when she may bear the child, no more doth she remember the anguish, because of the joy that a man was born to the world.

John 16:22 `And ye, therefore, now, indeed, have sorrow; and again I will see you, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one doth take from you,

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "Jesus therefore knew that they were wishing..." into verse 21's "The woman when she may bear hath...", so "world" and "verily" 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 "verily" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.