Bible in 90 Days

Wisdom From Above

¹³ Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him by his good way of living show that he does things in wise humility. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and lie, contrary to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but it is worldly, unspiritual, and demonic. ¹⁶ In fact, where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and every bad practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then also peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who practice peace.

Do Not Love the World

4 Where do conflicts and quarrels among you come from? Don’t they come from your cravings for pleasure, which are at war in the parts of your body? ² You want something but do not get it, so you murder. You desire something but cannot obtain it, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask, and yet do not receive, because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on what gives you pleasure.

⁴ Adulterers,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or, do you think that Scripture has no reason for saying that the Spirit, who lives in us,^[b] yearns jealously?^{[c] 6} But he gives greater grace! That is why it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”^[d]

⁷ So, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded people. ⁹ Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be changed into mourning and your joy into gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Let God Be the Judge

¹¹ Do not speak against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother is speaking against the law and judging the law. But if you judge the law, you are not one who does the law, but a judge. ¹² There is one lawgiver and judge. He is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

God’s Will Be Done

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city, spend a year there, do business, and make a profit.” ¹⁴ You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? Indeed, it is^[e] a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears. ¹⁵ Instead, it is better for you to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, and we will do this or that.” ¹⁶ But right now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ So, for the one who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, this is a sin.

Woe to the Rich

5 Come now, you who are rich, weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are going to come upon you. ² Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in these last days. ⁴ Listen, the wages that you failed to pay the workers who reaped your fields are crying out! And the cries of the harvesters have entered the ears of the Lord of Armies. ⁵ You have lived for pleasure on the earth and led a life of luxury. You have fattened your hearts on the day of slaughter. ⁶ You condemned and murdered the Righteous One.^[f] Does he not oppose you?^[g]

Be Patient

⁷ Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the valuable harvest from the ground, patiently waiting for it, until it receives the early and late rain. ⁸ You be patient too. Strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord is near.

⁹ Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look! The Judge is standing at the doors! ¹⁰ Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering with patient endurance. ¹¹ See, we consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard of the patient endurance of Job and have seen what the Lord did in the end, because the Lord is especially compassionate and merciful.

Do Not Swear

¹² Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Just let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no,” so that you do not fall under judgment.

Pray

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? He should call the elders of the church, and they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, in order that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is able to do much because it is effective. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the land produced its harvest.

¹⁹ My brothers, if anyone among you wanders away from the truth and someone turns him back, ²⁰ let it be known that the one who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Greeting

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the elect, temporary residents in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ² who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you.

A Living Hope

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ into an inheritance that is undying, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. ⁵ Through faith you are being protected by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.

⁶ Because of this you rejoice very much, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various kinds of trials ⁷ so that the proven character of your faith—which is more valuable than gold, which passes away even though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, yet by believing in him, you are filled with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰ The prophets, who prophesied about the grace that has come to you, searched and studied carefully concerning this salvation, ¹¹ trying to find out what person and what time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they wrote about these things. These are the things that have now been announced to you by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even the angels long to look carefully into these things.

A Call to Holy Living

¹³ Therefore, after preparing your minds for action by exercising self-control, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ Rather, just as the one who called you is holy, so also be holy in everything you do. ¹⁶ For it is written, “Be holy, because I am holy.”^[h]

¹⁷ If you call on the Father who judges impartially, according to the work of each person, conduct yourselves during the time of your pilgrimage in reverence, ¹⁸ because you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, not with things that pass away, such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was chosen before the foundation of the world but revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

²² Since you have purified your souls by obeying the truth,^[i] resulting in sincere brotherly love, love one another constantly from a pure heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not from perishable seed but from imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For:

And this is the word that was preached to you.

Crave Pure Spiritual Milk

2 Therefore rid yourselves of all evil, all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all slander. ² Like newborn babies, crave the pure milk of the word^[k] so that by it you may grow up with the result being salvation. ³ Certainly^[l] you have tasted that the Lord is good!

Living Stones

⁴ As you come to him, the Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, in order to bring spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it says in Scripture:

⁷ Therefore, for you who believe, this is an honor. But for those who do not believe:

⁸ and,

Because they continue to disobey the word, they stumble over it. And that is the consequence appointed for them.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ At one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. At one time you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy.

Live an Honorable Life

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and temporary residents in the world, to abstain from the desires of the sinful flesh, which war against your soul. ¹² Live an honorable life among the Gentiles so that even though they slander you as evildoers, when they observe your noble deeds, they may glorify God on the day he visits us.

Submit to Every Authority

¹³ Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the king as the supreme authority ¹⁴ or to governors as those who have been sent by him to punish those who do what is wrong and to praise those who do what is right. ¹⁵ For this is God’s will: that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. ¹⁶ Do this as free people, and do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but use it as servants of God. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood.^[p] Fear God. Honor the king.

Slaves and Masters

¹⁸ Slaves, submit to your masters with total respect, not only to those who are good and kind but also to those who are harsh. ¹⁹ For this is favorable:^[q] if a person endures sorrows while suffering unjustly because he is conscious of God. ²⁰ For what credit is it to you if you receive a beating for sinning and patiently endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and endure it, this is favorable with God.

²¹ Indeed, you were called to do this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you^[r] an example so that you would follow in his steps. ²² He did not commit a sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. ²³ When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself carried our sins in his body on the tree so that we would be dead to sins and alive to righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. ²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray, but you are now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Wives and Husbands

3 Wives, in the same way, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they might be won over without a word by the behavior of their wives, ² as they observe your respectful and holy behavior. ³ Do not let your beauty be something outward, such as braided hair or wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather let your beauty be the hidden person of your heart—the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight. ⁵ In fact, this is also how the holy women of the past who put their hope in God made themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, ⁶ just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord.^[s] You are her daughters if you do what is good and do not fear anything that is intimidating.

⁷ Husbands, in the same way, continue to live with your wives with the knowledge that, as the wife, she is the weaker vessel.^[t] Also continue to accord them honor as fellow heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

General Exhortations

⁸ Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another. Show sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, and humility.^{[u] 9} Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. Instead, speak a blessing, because you were called for the purpose of inheriting a blessing. ¹⁰ Indeed:

Suffering for Doing Good

¹³ Who will harm you if you are eager to do^[w] what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should happen to suffer because of righteousness, you are blessed. Do not be afraid of what they fear,^[x] and do not be troubled. ¹⁵ But regard the Lord, the Christ,^[y] as holy in your hearts.^[z] Always be prepared to give an answer^[aa] to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you. ¹⁶ But speak with gentleness and respect, while maintaining a clear conscience, so that those who attack your good way of life in Christ may be put to shame because they slandered you as evildoers.^[ab]

The Suffering and Exaltation of Christ

¹⁷ Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, ¹⁸ because Christ also suffered once for sins in our place,^[ac] the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you^[ad] to God. He was put to death in flesh^[ae] but was made alive in spirit,^{[af] 19} in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. ²⁰ These spirits disobeyed long ago, when God’s patience was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In this ark a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. ²¹ And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee^[ag] of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. ²² He went to heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Do Not Join in Immorality

4 Therefore, because Christ suffered in flesh,^[ah] arm yourselves with the same mindset, because the one who has suffered in flesh is done with sin. ² Do this so that you no longer live the rest of your time in the flesh for human desires but for God’s will. ³ Indeed, you have already spent enough time in the past doing what the Gentiles want to do: living in unbridled immorality, lusts, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and disgusting idolatry.

⁴ For this reason, they are surprised that you do not plunge into the same overflowing river of filth with them, and they slander you. ⁵ They will have to give an account to the one who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ In fact, it was for this reason that the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, so that they might be judged the way people are judged in flesh and that they might live the way God lives in spirit.

Love for Others in the End Times

⁷ The end of all things is near. So have sound judgment and be self-controlled for the sake of your prayers. ⁸ Above all, love each other constantly, because love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹ Be hospitable to one another without complaining.

Gifts Meant for Service

¹⁰ Serve one another, each according to the gift he has received, as good stewards of the many forms of God’s grace. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, let him do it as one speaking the messages of God. If anyone serves, let him do it as one serving with the strength God supplies so that God may be glorified in every way through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Sharing in the Sufferings of Christ

¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery trial that is happening among you to test you, as if something strange were happening to you. ¹³ Instead rejoice whenever you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

¹⁴ If you are insulted in connection with the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory^[ai] and of God rests on you.^{[aj] 15} Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or as a meddler. ¹⁶ But if you suffer for being a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God in connection with this name.^{[ak] 17} For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. Now if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who disobey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, where will the ungodly sinner end up? ¹⁹ So let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to their faithful Creator while doing what is good.

Admonition to Elders

5 Therefore, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and as one who also shares in the glory that is about to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you: ² Shepherd God’s flock that is among you, serving as overseers, not grudgingly but willingly, as God desires,^[al] not because you are greedy for money but because you are eager to do it. ³ Do not lord it over those entrusted to your care, but be examples for the flock. ⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive an unfading crown of glory.

Final Exhortations

⁵ Likewise, young men, be submissive to those who are older.^[am] And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility^[an] toward one another. For “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”^[ao]

⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under God’s powerful hand so that he may lift you up at the appointed time.^{[ap] 7} Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Have sound judgment. Be alert. Your adversary,^[aq] the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him by being firm in the faith. You know that the same kinds of sufferings are being laid on your brotherhood^[ar] all over the world.

¹⁰ After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you. ¹¹ To him be the glory and^[as] the power forever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

¹² I have written to you briefly (through Silas,^[at] whom I consider a faithful brother), to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. ¹³ She who is in Babylon, who was chosen along with you, greets you. So does Mark, my son. ¹⁴ Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace to all of you who are in Christ Jesus.^[au]

Greeting

1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained the same kind of faith as ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

² Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus^[av] our Lord.

Keep on Growing

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own^[aw] glory and excellence. ⁴ Through these he has given us his precious and great promises so that through them you may share in the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that sinful lust causes in the world.

⁵ And, for this very reason, after applying every effort, add moral excellence to your faith. To moral excellence, add knowledge. ⁶ To knowledge, add self-control. To self-control, add patient endurance. To patient endurance, add godliness. ⁷ To godliness, add brotherly affection. And to brotherly affection, add love. ⁸ For if you have these qualities and they are increasing, they are going to keep you from being idle or unfruitful in regard to your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ Indeed, the person who lacks these qualities is shortsighted and, in fact, blind, because he has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Make Your Calling and Election Sure

¹⁰ Therefore, brothers,^[ax] be more eager to make your calling and election sure for yourselves.^[ay] For if you do these things, you will never stumble. ¹¹ In fact, in this way you will be richly supplied with an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

¹² That is why I intend^[az] always to keep reminding you of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the truth you now have. ¹³ I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to keep you wide awake by reminding you, ¹⁴ because I know that the putting off of my tent is going to happen soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ¹⁵ I will also make every effort so that after my departure you always have a reminder of these things.

We Have God’s Inspired Word

¹⁶ To be sure, we were not following cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the powerful appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when the voice came to him from within the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”^{[ba] 18} We heard this voice, which came out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹ We also have the completely reliable prophetic word. You do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts, ²⁰ since we know this above all else: No prophecy of Scripture comes about from someone’s own interpretation. ²¹ In fact, no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God^[bb] as they were being carried along by the Holy Spirit.

A Warning About False Teachers

2 There were false prophets also among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved ways, and because of them the way of the truth will be blasphemed. ³ In their greed they will exploit you with fabricated messages. Their condemnation announced long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

God Will Punish These False Teachers

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned but handed them over to chains^[bc] of darkness by casting them into hell, to be kept under guard for judgment; ⁵ and if God did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others when he brought a flood on the world of ungodly people; ⁶ and if God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction,^[bd] by turning them into ashes when he made them an example of things to come for the ungodly;^{[be] 7} and if he rescued righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the unrestrained immorality of the wicked people ⁸ (while that righteous man was living among them, he was tormented in his righteous soul day after day by the lawless deeds he saw and heard); ⁹ then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under guard until the day of judgment, in order to punish them.

¹⁰ This is especially true of those who follow the defiling lust of the flesh and who despise authority. Daring and arrogant, they do not tremble when they blaspheme glorious beings, ¹¹ whereas angels, even though they are greater in strength and power, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these people blaspheme in matters about which they are ignorant, just like unreasoning creatures that live by instinct and are born to be captured and destroyed. So they too will be destroyed as a consequence of their destructive activity. ¹³ They will be paid back^[bf] for the harm they cause.

They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, who take delight in their deceitful pleasures^[bg] while they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of longing for adulterous women and sins that never stop. They seduce unstable souls. They have trained their hearts for greed. They are children who are cursed.

¹⁵ They left the right way and went astray, following the path of Balaam, son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. ¹⁶ (He was rebuked for his disobedience. A donkey, which does not talk, spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.) ¹⁷ These men are wells without water, clouds driven away by a windstorm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved.^{[bh] 18} For by uttering arrogant, empty words, they use the depraved lusts of the flesh to seduce those who are barely^[bi] escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise these people freedom, they themselves are slaves to corruption, for a person is a slave to what has control of him.

The Tragedy of Being Led Back Into a Sinful Life

²⁰ Indeed, if, after escaping the defiling things of the world through the knowledge of our^[bj] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and controlled by them again, they are worse off than they were at first. ²¹ In fact, it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command passed on to them. ²² They demonstrate the truth of the proverb: “A dog returns to its own vomit,”^[bk] and a washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.

The Destruction of the World Is Coming

3 Dear friends, this is now the second letter that I have written to you. I wrote both of them to stir up your sincere mind with a reminder ² for you to remember the words spoken earlier by the holy prophets and the command of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

³ First, know this: In the last days scoffers will come with their mocking, following their own lusts. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this promised coming of his? For from the time that our fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have from the beginning of the creation.” ⁵ You see, what they are intentionally forgetting is that the heavens came into existence long ago by the word of God and that the earth came together out of the water and between the waters.^{[bl] 6} Through these waters the former world perished, when it was flooded with water. ⁷ And now, by that same word, the heavens and earth have been stored up for fire, since they are being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly. ⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: For the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to do what he promised, as some consider slowness. Instead, he is patient for your sakes,^[bm] not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.

Live a Holy Life

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.^[bn] On that day the heavens will pass away with a roar, the elements will be dissolved as they burn with great heat, and the earth and what was done on it will be burned up.^{[bo] 11} Therefore,^[bp] since all these things will be destroyed, what kind of people ought you to be, living in holiness and godliness, ¹² as you look forward to and hasten the coming of the day of God? That day will cause the heavens to be set on fire and destroyed, and the elements to melt as they burn with great heat. ¹³ But according to his promise we look forward to new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ Therefore, dear friends, as you look forward to these things, make every effort to be found in peace, spotless and blameless in his sight. ¹⁵ Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom that was given to him. ¹⁶ He spoke about these things the same way in all of his letters. There are some matters that are hard to understand in his letters, which the ignorant and unstable distort, as they also do with the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Conclusion

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you already know these things, be on your guard so that you do not fall from your own firm position by being led astray through the error of the wicked. ¹⁸ Instead grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen.

The Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have observed and our hands have touched regarding the Word of Life— ² the life appeared, and we have seen it. We testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We are proclaiming what we have seen and heard also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write these things to you so that our^[bq] joy may be complete.

Walking in the Light

⁵ This is the message we heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with him but still walk in darkness, we are lying and do not put the truth into practice. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, just as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,^[br] his Son, cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his Word^[bs] is not in us.

2 My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world.

³ This is how we know that we have known him: if we keep his commands. ⁴ The one who says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ If anyone keeps God’s word, the love of God is truly made complete in him. This is how we know that we are in him: ⁶ The one who says he remains in him should walk as Jesus^[bt] walked.

⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one that you have had since the beginning. The old command is the message you heard. ⁸ At the same time, the command I am writing is new—it is true in Jesus^[bu] and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. ⁹ The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is still in the darkness. ¹⁰ The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and nothing causes him to stumble. ¹¹ The one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Do Not Love the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, boasting about material possessions—is not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

Warning Against False Teachers

¹⁸ Dear children, it is the last hour. The Antichrist is coming, just as you have heard, and even now many antichrists have come. (This is how you know that it is the last hour.) ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they really were not part of us. If they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Instead they all showed that they were not part of us.

²⁰ You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.^{[bv] 21} I did not write to you because you do not know the truth but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is a liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is an antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father. But the one who confesses the Son has the Father as well. ²⁴ Let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and the Father. ²⁵ And this is what he promised you: eternal life.

²⁶ I have written these things to you about those who are misleading you. ²⁷ As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you have no need for someone to teach you. Rather, since his anointing teaches you all things and since it is true and is no lie, remain in him, just as it has taught you.

²⁸ So now, dear children, remain in him so that we may be confident when he appears and may be unashamed before him at his coming. ²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, then you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

Love From the Father

3 See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are! The world does not know us, because it did not know him. ² Dear friends, we are children of God now, but what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he is revealed we will be like him, and we will see him as he really is. ³ Everyone who has this hope purifies himself just as Jesus^[bw] is pure.

⁴ Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that he appeared in order to take away our sins and in him there is no sin. ⁶ Anyone who remains in him does not sin. The person who keeps on sinning has not seen him or known him.

⁷ Dear children, do not let anyone deceive you. Whoever does what is right is righteous just as Jesus^[bx] is righteous. ⁸ The one who continues to sin is of the Devil, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. This is why the Son of God appeared: to destroy the works of the Devil. ⁹ Nobody who has been born of God continues to commit sin, because God’s seed remains in him. He cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how the children of God and the children of the Devil are obvious: Everyone who does not do what is right is not from God, along with everyone who does not love his brother.

Love One Another

¹¹ This is the message you have heard from the beginning: Love one another. ¹² Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers,^[by] if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love^[bz] remains in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. ¹⁶ This is how we have come to know love: Jesus^[ca] laid down his life for us. And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷ Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth.

¹⁹ This is how we know that we are of the truth and how we will set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. ²² We also receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight. ²³ This then is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another just as he commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps his commands remains in God^[cb] and God^[cc] in him. This is how we know that he remains in us: We know it from the Spirit, whom he has given to us.

Test the Spirits

4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit who does not confess Jesus^[cd] is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is already in the world. ⁴ You are from God, dear children, and you have overcome the false prophets,^[ce] because the one in you is greater than the one in the world. ⁵ They are from the world. That is why they speak from a worldly perspective and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we can distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

God Is Love

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love has not known God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, if God loved us so much, we also should love one another.

¹² No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love has been brought to its goal in us. ¹³ This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. ¹⁶ We also have come to know and trust the love that God has for us.

God is love. Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. ¹⁷ In this way his love has been brought to its goal among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are just like Jesus.^{[cf] 18} There is no fear in love, but complete love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who continues to be afraid has not been brought to the goal in love.

¹⁹ We love^[cg] because he first loved us. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For how can anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen,^[ch] love God, whom he has not seen? ²¹ This then is the command we have from him: The one who loves God should also love his brother.

Faith, Love, and Obedience

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the God who has given birth^[ci] also loves one who has been born of him. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep his commands. ³ In fact, this is love for God: that we keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ because everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. ⁵ Who is the one who overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶ This is the one who came by water and blood: Jesus Christ. He did not come by the water alone but by the water and by the blood. The Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ In fact, there are three that testify:^{[cj] 8} the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one.

⁹ If we accept the testimony of people, God’s testimony is even greater, because it is the testimony that God gave about his Son. ¹⁰ The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in him, but the one who does not believe has made God out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God gave about his Son. ¹¹ This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³ I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴ This is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we also know that we receive the things we have asked from him.

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not result in death, he will ask, and God will give life—to those who commit sin that does not result in death. There is sin that results in death; I am not saying that he should ask about that. ¹⁷ All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin that does not result in death.

¹⁸ We know that anyone who has been born of God does not go on sinning. But the one who was born of God protects him,^[ck] and the Evil One cannot take hold of him. ¹⁹ We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies in the grip of the Evil One. ²⁰ We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

²¹ Dear children, guard yourselves from idols.

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^[cl] 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^[cm] 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^[cn] 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^[co] 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.