A Little While, and Ye Shall not Behold Me...

The Diatessaron of Tatian — Rev. Hope W. Hogg, B.D.

[1] [3248] A little while, and ye shall not behold me; and a little while again, and ye shall [2] behold me; because I go to the Father. [3249] His disciples therefore said one to another, What is this that he hath said unto us, A little while, and ye shall not behold me; and a little while again, and ye shall behold me: and, I go to my [3] Father? [3250] And they said, What is this little while that he hath said? We know not [4] what he speaketh. [3251] And Jesus perceived that they were seeking to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said unto you, A little while, and ye behold me not, and a little while again, and ye shall [5] behold me? [3252] Verily, verily, [3253] I say unto you, that ye shall weep and grieve, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your grief shall turn [3254] to joy.

[6] [3255] For, a woman when the time is come for her that she should bring forth, the arrival of the day of her bringing forth distresseth her: but whenever she hath brought forth a son, she remembereth not her distress, for joy at the birth of a man into the [7] world. [3256] And ye now also grieve: but I shall see you, and your hearts shall rejoice, [8] [Arabic, p.178] and your joy no man taketh from you. [3257] And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. And verily, verily, [3258] I say unto you, All that ye ask my Father in my name, he will give you. [3259] Hitherto ye have asked nothing [9] in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be complete.

[10] [3260] I have spoken unto you now in ænigmas: [3261] but there will come an hour when [3262] I shall not speak to you in ænigmas, [3263] but shall reveal unto you the Father plainly, [11] in that day when [3264] ye shall ask in my name: [3265] and I say not unto you, that I shall [12] entreat the Father for you; [3266] for the Father loveth you, because ye have loved me, [13] and have believed that I came forth from my Father. [3267] I came forth from my Father, and came into the world: and I leave the world, and go unto my Father. [14] [3268] His disciples said unto him, Lo, thy speech is now plain, and thou hast not said one [15] thing in an ænigma. [3269] Now, lo, we know that thou knowest everything, and needest not that any man should ask thee: and by this we believe that thou camest forth [16, 17] from God. [3270] Jesus said unto them, Believe that an hour cometh, [3271] and lo, it hath come, and ye shall be scattered, every one of you to his place, and shall leave me [18] alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. [3272] This have I said unto you, that in me ye may have peace. And in the world trouble shall overtake you: but be of good courage; for I have overcome the world.

[19] [3273] This said Jesus, and lifted up his eyes unto heaven, and said, My Father, the hour [20] is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee: [3274] as thou gavest him authority [21] over all flesh, that all that thou hast given him, he might give them [3275] eternal life. [3276] And this is eternal life, that they should [3277] know that thou alone art true God, and that he [22] [Arabic, p.179] whom thou didst send is Jesus the Messiah. [3278] [3279] I glorified thee in the earth, [23] and the work which thou gavest me to do I have accomplished. [3280] And now glorify thou me, O Father, beside thee, with that glory which I had with thee [24] before the world was. [3281] I made known thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept [25, 26] thy word. [3282] Now they [3283] know that all that thou hast given me is from thee: [3284] and the sayings which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and believed that thou didst send me. [27] [3285] And I ask for their sake: and my asking is not for the world, but for those whom [28] thou hast given me; for they are thine: [3286] and all that is mine is thine, and all that is [29] thine is mine: and I am glorified in them. [3287] And now I am not in the world, and they are in the world, and I come to thee. My [3288] holy Father, keep them in thy [30] name which thou hast given unto me, that they may be one, as we are. [3289] When I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: and I kept those whom thou gavest unto me: and no man of them hath perished, but the son of perdition; that [31] the scripture might be fulfilled. [3290] Now I come to thee: and this I say in the world, [32] that my joy may be complete in them. [3291] I have given them thy word; and the world [33] hated them, because they were not of the world, as I was not of the world. [3292] And I ask not this, that thou take them from the world, but that thou keep them from the [34, 35] evil one. [3293] They were not of the world, as I was not of the world. [3294] O Father, sanctify [36] them in thy truth: for thy word is truth. [3295] And as thou didst send me into the world, I [37] [Arabic, p.180] also send them into the world. [3296] And for their sake I sanctify myself, that they [38] also may be sanctified in the truth. [3297] Neither for these alone do I ask, but for [39] the sake of them that believe in me through their word; [3298] that they may be all one; as thou art in me, and I in thee, and so they also shall be one in us: that the world [40] may believe that thou didst send me. [3299] And the glory which thou hast given unto [41] me I have given unto them; [3300] that they may be one, as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect into [3301] one; and that the world may know that [42] thou didst send me, and that I [3302] loved them, as thou lovedst me. [3303] Father, and those whom thou hast given me, I wish that, where I am, they may be with me also; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before [43] the foundation [3304] of the world. [3305] My righteous Father, [3306] and the world knew thee not, [44] but I know thee; and they knew that thou didst send me; and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known to them; [3307] that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I shall [3308] be in them.

Footnotes:

[3248] John 16:16.

[3249] John 16:17.

[3250] John 16:18.

[3251] John 16:19.

[3252] John 16:20.

[3253] Not quite the usual formula, there being here no article.

[3254] The Arabic might also be rendered be turned, but the Syriac is intransitive.

[3255] John 16:21.

[3256] John 16:22.

[3257] John 16:23.

[3258] Not quite the usual formula, there being here no article (cf. also 47, 5).

[3259] John 16:24.

[3260] John 16:25.

[3261] Not the usual word for proverb or parable (cf. Syriac versions).

[3262] So Vat. ms. and Peshitta. The Borg. ms., followed by Ciasca, has and a time when.

[3263] Not the usual word for proverb or parable (cf. Syriac versions).

[3264] cf. Peshitta.

[3265] John 16:26.

[3266] John 16:27.

[3267] John 16:28.

[3268] John 16:29.

[3269] John 16:30.

[3270] John 16:31.

[3271] John 16:32.

[3272] John 16:33.

[3273] John 17:1.

[3274] John 17:2.

[3275] Lit. it or him.

[3276] John 17:3.

[3277] In the Borg. ms. the sentence begins with that they might, the preceding clause being omitted.

[3278] The above is perhaps the most natural rendering of the Arabic; but the latter is really only an awkward word-for-word reproduction of the Peshitta, which means know thee, who alone art the God of truth, and him whom thou didst send, (even) Jesus the Messiah.

[3279] John 17:4.

[3280] John 17:5.

[3281] John 17:6.

[3282] John 17:7.

[3283] So Ciasca's text. The Vat. ms. has I, with the Peshitta and probably Sinaitic.

[3284] John 17:8.

[3285] John 17:9.

[3286] John 17:10.

[3287] John 17:11.

[3288] So in Sinaitic. The Peshitta omits My.

[3289] John 17:12.

[3290] John 17:13.