John 17:9

I pray

(εγω ερωτω). Request, not question, as in John 16:23.Not for the world

(ου περ του κοσμου). Now at this point in the prayer Christ means. In verse John 17:19 Jesus does pray for the world (for future believers) that it may believe (verse John 17:21). God loves the whole world (John 3:16). Christ died for sinners (Romans 5:8) and prayed for sinners (Luke 23:34) and intercedes for sinners (1 John 2:1; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).For those whom

(περ ων). A condensed and common Greek idiom for περ τουτων ους with τουτων (the demonstrative antecedent) omitted and the relative ους attracted from the accusative ους (object of δεδωκας) to the case (genitive) of the omitted antecedent.