Beginning

Greeting

The Elder,

To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—not only I, but also everyone who knows the truth— ² because of the truth that remains 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.

Keep on Walking According to God’s Word

⁴ I was overjoyed to find out that some of your children are walking in the truth, in keeping with the command we received from the Father. ⁵ And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing a new command to you, but the one we have had from the beginning—let us love one another. ⁶ And this is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command: Just as you have heard from the beginning, keep on walking in it.

Beware of Deceivers

⁷ Many deceivers who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸ Watch yourselves so that you do not lose what we^[b] have labored for but receive a full reward.

⁹ Anyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If someone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house. Do not even wish him well. ¹¹ For the one who wishes him well shares in his wicked works.

Final Greetings

¹² I have many things to write to you, but I did not want to do it with paper and ink. I hope instead to be with you and speak to you face to face so that our^[c] joy may be made complete.

¹³ The children of your chosen sister greet you.

Greeting

The Elder,

To dear Gaius, whom I love in the truth:

Joy at Gaius’ Faithfulness and Cooperation in the Truth

² Dear friend, I pray that you are doing well in every way and have good health, just as your soul is doing well. ³ Indeed, I was overjoyed when brothers^[a] came and testified to your truthfulness because you are walking in the truth. ⁴ I have no greater joy than when I hear that my children are walking in the truth.

⁵ Dear friend, you are being faithful in what you are doing for the brothers even though they are strangers. ⁶ They have testified before the church about your love. You will do well to send them off in a manner worthy of God. ⁷ They went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸ Therefore, we have an obligation to support such men, so that we may be coworkers for the truth.

A Warning About Diotrephes

⁹ I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, does not welcome us. ¹⁰ For this reason, if I do come, I will call attention to what he is doing. He is disparaging us with wicked words, and he is not content with that. He also refuses to welcome the brothers. He even hinders and puts out of the church those who wish to welcome them.

¹¹ Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does what is good is from God. The one who does what is evil has not seen God.

¹² Demetrius has been endorsed by everyone, even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greeting

¹³ I had many things to write you, but I do not want to do it with pen and ink. ¹⁴ I hope to see you soon, and we will speak face to face.

¹⁵ Peace to you. Your friends here send their greetings to you. Greet our friends there by name.

Greeting

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, who are loved^[a] in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

² Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Ungodly Teachers Who Slipped In Secretly

³ Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you concerning the salvation we share, I felt it was necessary for me to write, to urge you to continue to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once and for all. ⁴ For certain individuals slipped in secretly, about whom it was written some time ago that they are condemned. They are ungodly people who turn the grace of our God into a license for sin and deny our only Master^[b] and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵ I want to remind you, though you already know all these things, that after the Lord^[c] rescued his people out of the land of Egypt, he later destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their position of authority but left their own dwelling place behind—God has kept them in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. ⁷ Like Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who in a similar way indulged in extreme sexual immorality and pursued homosexual perversion,^[d] they serve as an example of those who are going to suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

⁸ Yet, in the very same way, these dreamers are defiling the flesh, despising authority, and blaspheming glorious ones. ⁹ But when the archangel Michael was disputing with the Devil and arguing about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a blasphemous condemnation against him. Instead he said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

¹⁰ But these people do not understand what they are blaspheming. They are being destroyed by the very things that they know by instinct (like unreasoning animals). ¹¹ Woe to them! They have gone the way of Cain. They have abandoned themselves for hire to the error of Balaam. They perished in Korah’s rebellion.

¹² These people are filthy stains on^[e] your love feasts when they eat with you without fear, shepherding themselves. They are clouds without rain, being driven along by the winds. They are autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots. ¹³ They are wild waves of the sea piling up the foam of their own shame. They are wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved for eternity.

¹⁴ Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these people, saying, “Look, the Lord is going to come with tens of thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment against all of them and to convict every soul concerning all their ungodly deeds, which they did in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh words that ungodly sinners spoke against him.” ¹⁶ These are discontented grumblers, who walk according to their lusts, and their mouths speak boastful things as they flatter others to take advantage of them.

Keep Yourselves in God’s Love

¹⁷ But you, dear friends, remember the words that were spoken earlier by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers who follow their own ungodly lusts.”^{[f] 19} These are the people who cause divisions. They are worldly because they do not have the Spirit.

²⁰ But you, dear friends, continue to build yourselves up in your most holy faith as you keep praying in the Holy Spirit. ²¹ Keep yourselves in God’s love as you continue to wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, which results in eternal life. ²² Show mercy to those who are wavering.^{[g] 23} Save others by snatching them out of the fire. Show mercy to still others with fear,^[h] hating even the clothing that is stained by the flesh.

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless in the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only^[i] God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all time, now, and to all eternity. Amen.