9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
9 I pray for them. I'm not praying for the God-rejecting world But for those you gave me, For they are yours by right.
9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
9 "My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 17:9
Commentary on John 17:6-10.
(Read John 17:6-10.)
Christ prays for those that are his. Thou gavest them me, as sheep to the shepherd, to be kept; as a patient to the physician, to be cured; as children to a tutor, to be taught: thus he will deliver up his charge. It is a great satisfaction to us, in our reliance upon Christ, that he, all he is and has, and all he said and did, all he is doing and will do, are of God. Christ offered this prayer for his people alone as believers; not for the world at large. Yet no one who desires to come to the Father, and is conscious that he is unworthy to come in his own name, need be discouraged by the Saviour's declaration, for he is both able and willing to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him. Earnest convictions and desires, are hopeful tokens of a work already wrought in a man; they begin to evidence that he has been chosen unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. They are thine; wilt thou not provide for thine own? Wilt thou not secure them? Observe the foundation on which this plea is grounded, All mine are thine, and thine are mine. This speaks the Father and Son to be one. All mine are thine. The Son owns none for his, that are not devoted to the service of the Father.