2 John - Jude

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Salutation

¹ The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth,^{(A) 2} because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

³ Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from^[a] Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.^(B)

Truth and Love

⁴ I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. ⁵ But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment but one we have had from the beginning: let us love one another.^{(C) 6} And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.^(D)

⁷ Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist!^{(E) 8} Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we^[b] have worked for but may receive a full reward.^{(F) 9} Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it,^[c] does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching^[d] has both the Father and the Son.^{(G) 10} If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive and welcome this person into your house,^{(H) 11} for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.^(I)

Final Greetings

¹² Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead, I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our^[e] joy may be complete.^(J)

¹³ The children of your elect sister send you their greetings.^[f]

Salutation

¹ The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

Gaius Commended for His Hospitality

² Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. ³ For I was overjoyed when some brothers and sisters arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, how you walk in the truth.^{(K) 4} I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.^(L)

⁵ Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you;^{(M) 6} they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God,^{(N) 7} for they began their journey for the sake of Christ,^[g] accepting no support from nonbelievers.^{[h](O) 8} Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become coworkers with the truth.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

⁹ I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not welcome us. ¹⁰ So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the brothers and sisters and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.^(P)

¹¹ Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.^{(Q) 12} Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has the truth^[i] itself. We also testify for him,^[j] and you know that our testimony is true.^(R)

Final Greetings

¹³ I have much to write to you, but I would rather not write to you with pen and ink;^{(S) 14} instead, I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face.

¹⁵ Peace to you. The friends send you their greetings. Greet the friends there, each by name.^(T)

Salutation

¹ Jude,^[k] a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, who are beloved^[l] in^[m] God the Father and kept safe for^[n] Jesus Christ:^(U)

² May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.

Occasion of the Letter

³ Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once and for all handed on to the saints.^{(V) 4} For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into debauchery and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.^[o](W)

Judgment on False Teachers

⁵ Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, once and for all, that Jesus, who saved^[p] a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.^{(X) 6} And the angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day.^{(Y) 7} Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust,^[q] serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.^(Z)

⁸ Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones.^{[r](AA) 9} But when the archangel Michael disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a condemnation of slander^[s] against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”^{(AB) 10} But these people slander whatever they do not understand, and they are destroyed by those things that, like irrational animals, they know by instinct. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they go the way of Cain and abandon themselves to Balaam’s error for the sake of gain and perish in Korah’s rebellion.^{(AC) 12} These are blots^[t] on your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves.^[u] They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted;^{(AD) 13} wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.^(AE)

¹⁴ It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “See, the Lord is coming^[v] with ten thousands of his holy ones,^{(AF) 15} to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly^[w] of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶ These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their lusts;^[x] their mouths utter bombastic nonsense, flattering people to their own advantage.^(AG)

Warnings and Exhortations

¹⁷ But you, beloved, must remember the words previously spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸ for they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.”^{(AH) 19} It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. ²⁰ But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;^{(AI) 21} keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to^[y] eternal life.^{(AJ) 22} And have mercy on some who are wavering; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.^[z](AK)

Benediction

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing,^{(AL) 25} to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.^(AM)