²³ And when they had ^(A)appointed ^(B)elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting ^(C)they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Qualifications for Elders

^5 (A)This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and ^(B)appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

^30 (A)And they did so, sending it to ^(B)the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, ^(A)anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

² and ^(A)what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses ^(B)entrust to faithful men,^{[a] (C)}who will be able to teach others also.

³² And now ^(A)I commend you to God and to ^(B)the word of his grace, which is able to ^(C)build you up and to give you ^(D)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

^22 (A)Do not be hasty in the ^(B)laying on of hands, nor ^(C)take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷ Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ^(A)the elders of the church to come to him.

Greeting

^1 (A)The elder to the beloved Gaius, ^(B)whom I love in truth.

² Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. ³ For ^(C)I rejoiced greatly when the brothers^[a] came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. ⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that ^(D)my children are walking in the truth.

Support and Opposition

⁵ Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for ^(E)these brothers, ^(F)strangers as they are, ⁶ who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner ^(G)worthy of God. ⁷ For they have gone out for the sake of ^(H)the name, ^(I)accepting nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸ Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

⁹ I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. ¹⁰ So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

¹¹ Beloved, ^(J)do not imitate evil but imitate good. ^(K)Whoever does good is from God; ^(L)whoever does evil has not seen God. ¹² Demetrius ^(M)has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and ^(N)you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greetings

^13 (O)I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. ¹⁴ I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

¹⁵ Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, ^(P)each by name.