Bible in 90 Days

True and false wisdom

¹³ Who is wise and discerning among you? Such a person should, by their upright behavior, display their works in the humility of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and contention in your hearts, don’t boast, and tell lies against the truth. ¹⁵ This isn’t the wisdom that comes from above. It is earthly, merely human, coming from the world of demons. ¹⁶ For where there is jealousy and contention, there you will get unruly behavior and every kind of evil practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from above is first holy, then peaceful, gentle, compliant, filled with mercy and good fruits, unbiased, sincere. ¹⁸ And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Humility and faith

4 Where do wars come from? Why do people among you fight? It all comes from within, doesn’t it—from your desires for pleasure which make war in your members. ² You want something and you haven’t got it, so you murder someone. You long to possess something, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war. The reason you don’t have it is because you don’t ask for it! ³ And when you do ask, you don’t get it, because you ask wrongly, intending to spend it on your pleasures. ⁴ Adulterers! Don’t you know that to be friends with the world means being enemies with God? So anyone who wants to be friends with the world is setting themselves up as God’s enemy. ⁵ Or do you suppose that when the Bible says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit he has made to dwell in us,” it doesn’t mean what it says?

⁶ But God gives more grace; so it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit to God, then; resist the devil and he will run away from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Make your hands clean, you sinners; and make your hearts pure, you double-minded lot. ⁹ Make yourselves wretched; mourn and weep. Let your laughter turn to mourning, and your joy to sorrow. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Living by trust in God

¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, my dear family. Anyone who speaks evil against another family member, or passes judgment against them, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge! ¹² There is one lawgiver, one judge who can rescue or destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³ Now look here, you people who say, “Today, or tomorrow, we will go to such-and-such a town and spend a year there, and trade, and make some money.” ¹⁴ You have no idea what the next day will bring. What is your life? You are a mist which appears for a little while and then disappears again. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live, and we shall do this, or that.” ¹⁶ But, as it is, you boast in your pride. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ So then, if anyone knows the right thing to do, but doesn’t do it, it becomes sin for them.

Warnings to the rich

5 Now look here, you rich! Weep and wail for the horrible things that are going to happen to you! ² Your riches have rotted, and your clothes have become moth-eaten, ³ your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will bear witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have stored up riches in the last days! ⁴ Look: you cheated the workers who mowed your fields by keeping back their wages, and those wages are crying out! The cries of the farm workers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵ You have lived off the fat of the land, in the lap of luxury. You have fattened your own hearts on a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned the Righteous One and killed him, and he doesn’t resist you.

Patience and trust

⁷ So be patient, my brothers and sisters, for the appearing of the Lord. You know how the farmer waits for the valuable crop to come up from the ground. He is patient over it, waiting for it to receive the early rain and then the late rain. ⁸ In the same way, you must be patient, and make your hearts strong, because the appearing of the Lord is near at hand. ⁹ Don’t grumble against one another, my brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. Look—the judge is standing at the gates! ¹⁰ Consider the prophets, my brothers and sisters, who spoke in the name of the Lord. Take them as an example of longsuffering and patience. ¹¹ When people endure, we call them “blessed by God.” Well, you have heard of the endurance of Job; and you saw the Lord’s ultimate purpose. The Lord is deeply compassionate and kindly.

¹² Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear. Don’t swear by heaven; don’t swear by earth; don’t use any other oaths. Let your “Yes” be “Yes” and your “No” be “No.” That way, you will not fall under judgment.

Praying in faith

¹³ Are any among you suffering? Let them pray. Are any cheerful? Let them sing psalms. ¹⁴ Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church, and they should pray over the sick person, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ Faithful prayer will rescue the sick person, and the Lord will raise them up. If they have committed any sin, it will be forgiven them. ¹⁶ So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

When a righteous person prays, that prayer carries great power. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with passions like ours, and he prayed and prayed that it might not rain—and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

¹⁹ My dear family, if someone in your company has wandered from the truth, and someone turns them back, ²⁰ know this: the one who turns back a sinner from wandering off into error will rescue that person’s life from death, and cover a multitude of sins.

Genuine faith and sure hope

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus the Messiah, to God’s chosen ones who live as foreigners among the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, ² who have been set aside in advance by God the father, through the sanctification of the spirit, for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus the Messiah. May grace and peace be poured out lavishly on you!

³ May God be blessed, God the father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah! His mercy is abundant, and so he has become our father in a second birth into a living hope through the resurrection from the dead of Jesus the Messiah. ⁴ This has brought us into an incorruptible inheritance, which nothing can stain or diminish. At the moment it is kept safe for you in the heavens, ⁵ while you are being kept safe by God’s power, through faith, for a rescue that is all ready and waiting to be revealed in the final time.

⁶ That is why you celebrate! Yes, it may well be necessary that, for a while, you may have to suffer trials and tests of all sorts. ⁷ But this is so that the true value of your faith may be discovered. It is worth more than gold, which is tested by fire even though it can be destroyed. The result will be praise, glory and honor when Jesus the Messiah is revealed. ⁸ You love him, even though you’ve never seen him. And even though you don’t see him, you believe in him, and celebrate with a glorified joy that goes beyond anything words can say, ⁹ since you are receiving the proper goal of your faith, namely, the rescue of your lives.

Ransomed by grace

¹⁰ The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be given to you searched and inquired about this rescue. ¹¹ They asked what sort of time it would be, the time that the Messiah’s spirit within them was indicating when speaking of the Messiah’s sufferings and subsequent glory. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they were ministering these things—things which have now been announced to you by the holy spirit who was sent from heaven, through those who preached the good news to you. The angels long to gaze on these things!

¹³ So fasten your belts—the belts of your minds! Keep yourselves under control. Set your hope completely on the grace that will be given you when Jesus the Messiah is revealed. ¹⁴ As children of obedience, don’t be squashed into the shape of the passions you used to indulge when you were still in ignorance. ¹⁵ Rather, just as the one who called you is holy, so be holy yourselves, in every aspect of behavior. ¹⁶ It is written, you see, “Be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷ If you call on God as “Father”—the God, that is, who judges everyone impartially according to their work—behave with holy fear throughout the time in which you are resident here.

¹⁸ You know, after all, that you were ransomed from the futile practices inherited from your ancestors, and that this ransom came not through perishable things like gold or silver, ¹⁹ but through the precious blood of the Messiah, like a lamb without spot or blemish. ²⁰ He was destined for this from before the foundation of the world, and appeared at the end of the times for your sake, ²¹ for you (that is) who through him believe in the God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Newborn babies

²² Once your lives have been purified by obeying the truth, resulting in a sincere love for all your fellow believers, love one another eagerly, from a pure heart. ²³ You have been born again, not from seed which decays but from seed which does not—through the living and abiding word of God. ²⁴ Because, you see—

That is the word that was announced to you.

2 So put away all evil, all deceitful, hateful malice, and all ill-speaking. ² As newborn babies, long for the spiritual milk, the real stuff, not watered down. That is what will make you grow up to salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

The living stone

⁴ Come to him, to that living stone. Humans rejected him, but God chose him and values him very highly! ⁵ Like living stones yourselves, you are being built up into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that will be well pleasing to God through Jesus the Messiah.

⁶ That’s why it stands in scripture:

⁷ He is indeed precious for you believers. But when people don’t believe, “the stone which the builders rejected has become the head cornerstone,” ⁸ and “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble as they disobey the word, which indeed was their destiny. ⁹ But you are a “chosen race; a royal priesthood”; a holy nation; a people for God’s possession. Your purpose is to announce the virtuous deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light. ¹⁰ Once you were “no people”; now you are “God’s people.” Once you had not received mercy; now you have received mercy.

Living in a pagan world

¹¹ My beloved ones, I beg you—strangers and resident aliens as you are—to hold back from the fleshly desires that wage war against your true lives. ¹² Keep up good conduct among the pagans, so that when they speak against you as evildoers they will observe your good deeds and praise God on the day of his royal arrival.

¹³ Be subject to every human institution, for the sake of the Lord: whether to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him to punish evildoers and praise those who do good. ¹⁵ This, you see, is God’s will. He wants you to behave well and so to silence foolish and ignorant people. ¹⁶ Live as free people (though don’t use your freedom as a veil to hide evil!), but as slaves of God. ¹⁷ Do honor to all people; love the family; reverence God; honor the emperor.

Suffering as the Messiah did

¹⁸ Let slaves obey their masters with all respect, not only the good and kind ones but also the unkind ones. ¹⁹ It is to your credit, you see, if because of a godly conscience you put up with unjust and painful suffering. ²⁰ After all, what credit is it if you do something wrong, are beaten for it, and take it patiently? But if you do what is right, suffer for it, and bear it patiently, this is to your credit before God.

²¹ This, after all, is what came with the terms of your call, because

Marriage and its challenges

3 In the same way, let me say a word to the women. You should be subject to your husbands, so that if there should be some who disobey the word, they may be won, without a word, through the behavior of their wives, ² as they notice you conducting yourselves with reverence and purity. ³ The beauty you should strive for ought not to be the external sort—elaborate hairdressing, gold trinkets, fine clothes! ⁴ Rather, true beauty is the secret beauty of the heart, of a sincere, gentle and quiet spirit. That is very precious to God. ⁵ That is how the holy women of old, who hoped in God, used to make themselves beautiful in submission to their husbands. ⁶ Take Sarah, for instance, who obeyed Abraham and called him “Master.” You are her children if you do good and have no fear of intimidation.

⁷ You men, in the same way, think out how to live with your wives. Yes, they are physically weaker than you, but they deserve full respect. They are heirs of the grace of life, just the same as you. That way nothing will obstruct your prayers.

The new way of life

⁸ The aim of this is for you all to be like-minded, sympathetic and loving to one another, tender-hearted and humble. ⁹ Don’t repay evil for evil, or slander for slander, but rather say a blessing. This is what you were called to, so that you may inherit a blessing.

¹³ Who is there, then, to harm you if you are eager to do what is right? ¹⁴ But if you do suffer because of your righteous behavior, God’s blessing is upon you! “Don’t fear what they fear; don’t be disturbed.” ¹⁵ Sanctify the Messiah as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to make a reply to anyone who asks you to explain the hope that is in you. ¹⁶ Do it, though, with gentleness and respect. Hold on to a good conscience, so that when people revile your good behavior in the Messiah they may be ashamed.

Suffering for doing right

¹⁷ It’s better to suffer for good conduct (if God so wills it) than for bad. ¹⁸ For the Messiah, too, suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the spirit. ¹⁹ In the spirit, too, he went and made the proclamation to the spirits in prison ²⁰ who had earlier on been disobedient during the days of Noah, when God waited in patience. Noah built the ark, in which a few people, eight in fact, were rescued through water. ²¹ That functions as a signpost for you, pointing to baptism, which now rescues you—not by washing away fleshly pollution, but by the appeal to God of a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. ²² He has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand, with angels, authorities and powers subject to him.

Transformed living

4 So, then, just as the Messiah suffered in the flesh, you too must equip yourselves with the same mental armor. Someone who suffers in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² so as to live the rest of their mortal life no longer according to human desires but according to God’s will. ³ Pagan ways of life have had quite enough of your time already, and you should put all that behind you for good—all that uncleanness, passion, drunkenness, excessive feasting, drinking-parties and lawless idolatry. ⁴ People are shocked that you don’t now join in with the same wild and reckless behavior, and so they call down curses on you. ⁵ But they will have to account for it before the one who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ That is why, you see, the gospel was preached even to the dead, so that, being judged in human fashion, in the flesh, they might live in God’s fashion, in the spirit.

⁷ The end of all things is upon us. You must keep sober, then, and self-disciplined for your prayers. ⁸ Above all, keep absolutely firm in your love for one another, because “love covers a multitude of sins.” ⁹ Be hospitable to one another without complaining. ¹⁰ Just as each of you has received a gift, so you should use it for ministry one to another, as good stewards of God’s many-sided grace. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as speaking God’s oracles. If anyone ministers, they should do it as in the strength which God grants, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus the Messiah, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

Sharing the Messiah’s sufferings

¹² Beloved, don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is coming upon you to test you, as though this were some strange thing that was happening to you. ¹³ Rather, celebrate! You are sharing the sufferings of the Messiah. Then, when his glory is revealed, you will celebrate with real, exuberant joy. ¹⁴ If you are abused because of the name of the Messiah, you are blessed by God, because the spirit of glory and of God is resting upon you. ¹⁵ None of you, of course, should suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer, or even as a busybody. ¹⁶ But if you suffer as a Christian, don’t be ashamed; rather, give God the glory for that name! ¹⁷ The time has come, you see, for judgment to begin at God’s own household. And if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel? ¹⁸ And if the righteous person is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? ¹⁹ So also those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their whole lives to the faithful creator by doing what is good.

Humble shepherds

5 So, then, I appeal to the elders among you, as a fellow-elder and a witness of the sufferings of the Messiah, and as one who will share in the glory that is to be revealed. ² Do the proper work of a shepherd as you look after God’s flock which has been entrusted to you, not under compulsion, but gladly, as in God’s presence, not for shameful profit but eagerly. ³ You should not lord it over those for whom you are responsible, but rather be an example to the flock. ⁴ And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that won’t wither away. ⁵ In the same way, too, the younger men should submit to the elders. But let all of you clothe yourselves with humility towards one another. You see, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the lowly.” ⁶ Humble yourselves, then, under God’s powerful hand, so that he may lift you up at the right time. ⁷ Throw all your care upon him, because he cares about you.

Standing firm by God’s power

⁸ Stay in control of yourselves; stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is stalking around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, staying resolute in your faith, and knowing that other family members in the rest of the world are facing identical sufferings. ¹⁰ Then, after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you in Messiah Jesus to the glory of his new age, will himself put you in good order, and will establish and strengthen you and set you on firm foundations. ¹¹ To him be the power forever. Amen.

¹² I have written this briefly, and am sending it to you with Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother. My main point is to urge and bear witness to you that you are indeed standing in the true grace of God. ¹³ Your chosen sister in Babylon sends you greetings; so does my son Mark. ¹⁴ Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Peace to you all in the Messiah.

Confirm your call!

1 Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus the Messiah, to those who have obtained a share of faith equal to ours in the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus the Messiah: ² may grace and peace be multiplied to you, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³ God has bestowed upon us, through his divine power, everything that we need for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue. ⁴ The result is that he has given us, through these things, his precious and wonderful promises; and the purpose of all this is so that you may run away from the corruption of lust that is in the world, and may become partakers of the divine nature. ⁵ So, because of this, you should strain every nerve to supplement your faith with virtue, and your virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and your knowledge with self-control, and your self-control with patience, and your patience with piety, ⁷ and your piety with family affection, and your family affection with love. ⁸ If you have these things in plentiful supply, you see, you will not be wasting your time, or failing to bear fruit, in relation to your knowledge of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. ⁹ Someone who doesn’t have these things, in fact, is so short-sighted as to be actually blind, and has forgotten what it means to be cleansed from earlier sins. ¹⁰ So, my dear family, you must make the effort all the more to confirm that God has called you and chosen you. If you do this, you will never trip up. ¹¹ That is how you will have, richly laid out before you, an entrance into the kingdom of God’s coming age, the kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus the Messiah.

Prophecy made sure

¹² So I intend to go on and on reminding you about all this—even though you know it, and have been firmly established in the truth which has come to you. ¹³ But it seems right to me, as long as I am living in this present tent, to stir you up with a reminder, ¹⁴ since I know that I shall shortly be putting off this tent, as our Lord Jesus the Messiah showed me. ¹⁵ So I shall also be making every effort to ensure that, once I am gone, you may be able to call these things to mind at any time.

¹⁶ You see, when we made known to you the power and appearing of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, we were not following cleverly devised myths. Rather, we were eyewitnesses of his grandeur. ¹⁷ For when he received honor and glory from God the father, a voice spoke to him from the Wonderful Glory, “This is my son, my beloved one, in whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸ We heard this voice, spoken from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹ And we have the prophetic word made more certain. You will do well to hold on to this, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star shines in your hearts. ²⁰ You must know this first of all, that no scriptural prophecy is a matter of one’s own interpretation. ²¹ No prophecy, you see, ever came by human will. Rather, people were moved by the holy spirit, and spoke from God.

False prophets

2 There were, however, false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will sneak in with their destructive false teachings, even denying the master who paid the price for them. They will earn swift destruction for themselves, ² and many will follow after their disgusting practices. The way of truth will be blasphemed because of them, ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with fake prophecies. For a long time now, their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not fallen asleep.

⁴ God didn’t spare the angels who sinned, you see, but he threw them into the pit, into dark caverns, handing them over to be guarded until the time of judgment. ⁵ Similarly, he didn’t spare the ancient world, but brought a flood on the world of the ungodly and rescued Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others. ⁶ Similarly, he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes and ruin, thus setting up an example of what would happen to the ungodly. ⁷ He snatched righteous Lot out of the disaster, a man who had been deeply troubled by their shameful and unprincipled behavior. ⁸ That righteous man, you see, living in their midst, could see and hear day after day lawless deeds which tortured his righteous soul. ⁹ The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from testing, and also how to keep the unrighteous ready for the day of judgment and punishment, ^10a especially those who follow after the pollution of fleshly lust and despise authority.

From bad to worse

^10b Such people are arrogant and self-willed! They are not afraid to blaspheme the glorious ones, ¹¹ whereas the angels, stronger and more powerful though they are, do not bring a charge of blasphemy against them before the Lord.

¹² These people are like unreasoning beasts, by nature born to be caught and destroyed. They curse at things of which they have no knowledge; they are destroyed by their own self-destructive tendencies. ¹³ They commit injustice, and receive injustice as their reward. They count it pleasure to hold wild revels in the daytime. If they join you for a meal, they pollute and stain the whole thing as they wallow in their disgusting pleasures. ¹⁴ Their eyes are full of adultery; they can’t get enough of sin; when they find unsteady souls, they lead them astray; their hearts have been trained in greed; they are children of the curse. ¹⁵ They have left the straight path and have wandered off in pursuit of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the reward of unrighteousness, ¹⁶ and was rebuked for his disobedience when a normally speechless donkey spoke in a human voice to stop the prophet’s madness in its tracks.

¹⁷ These people are springs without water. They are patches of fog driven along by a storm. The depth of darkness has been reserved for them! ¹⁸ They utter bombastic words of folly as they entice, with licentious fleshly desires, those who have only just escaped from the company of people who behave improperly. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves to corruption. (A person who is defeated by something, you see, is enslaved to it.) ²⁰ For if they have fled the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus the Messiah, but again become entangled in them and are defeated, they have ended up in a worse state than they were before. ²¹ It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment which had been given to them. ²² There is a true proverb which now applies to them: the dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow gets washed only to wallow once more in the mud.

The day of the Lord

3 My dear family, this is now the second time I am writing you a letter. Your motives are pure, and what I’m trying to do in reminding you is to stir them into action, ² so that you’ll remember the words spoken earlier by the holy prophets, and by the command of the Lord and savior which you received from your apostles. ³ But you must first know this. Deceivers will come in the last days, with deceitful ways, behaving according to their own desires. ⁴ This is what they will say: “Where is the promise of his royal arrival? Ever since the previous generation died, everything has continued just as it has from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ They willingly overlook this one thing, you see: the ancient heavens and earth were formed out of water and through water, by God’s word— ⁶ and it was destroyed by flooding the world of that time with water. ⁷ The heavens and earth that we now have are being preserved for fire by the same word, being kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of the wicked. ⁸ So, beloved, don’t forget this one thing, that a single day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a single day. ⁹ The Lord is not delaying his promise, in the way that some think of delay, but he is very patient towards you. He does not want anyone to be destroyed. Rather, he wants everyone to arrive at repentance.

¹⁰ But the Lord’s day will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will pass away with a great rushing sound, the elements will be dissolved in fire, and the earth and all the works on it will be disclosed.

God’s patience

¹¹ Since everything is going to dissolve in this way, what sort of people should you be? You should live lives that are holy and godly, ¹² as you look for God’s day to appear, and indeed hurry it on its way—the day because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the elements will melt with heat. ¹³ But we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which justice will be at home. That is what he has promised.

¹⁴ So, my dear family, as you wait for these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, in peace. ¹⁵ And when our Lord waits patiently to act, see that for what it is—salvation! Our beloved brother Paul has written to you about all this, according to the wisdom that has been given him, ¹⁶ speaking about these things as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them which are difficult to understand. Untaught and unstable people twist his words to their own destruction, as they do with the other scriptures.

¹⁷ But as for you, my dear family, be on your guard, since you have been warned in advance. That way you won’t be led astray through the error of lawless people and fall away from your own solid grounding. ¹⁸ Instead, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus the Messiah. To him be glory both now and in the day when God’s new age dawns. 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 gazed at, and our hands have handled—concerning the Word of Life! ² That life was displayed, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and we announce to you the life of God’s coming age, which was with the father and was displayed to us. ³ That which we have seen and heard, we announce to you too, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the father, and with his son Jesus the Messiah. ⁴ We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

God’s light and our darkness

⁵ This is the message which we have heard from him, and announce to you: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the dark, we are telling lies, and not doing what is true. 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 his son makes us pure and clean from all sin. ⁸ If we say that 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, and will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us.

2 My children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone does sin, we have one who pleads our cause before the father—namely, the Righteous One, Jesus the Messiah! ² He is the sacrifice which atones for our sins—and not ours only, either, but those of the whole world.

God’s new commandment

³ This is how we are sure that we have known him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ Anyone who says, “I know him,” but doesn’t keep his commandments, is a liar. People like that have no truth in them. ⁵ But if anyone keeps his word, God’s love is truly made complete in such a person. This is how we are sure that we are in him: ⁶ anyone who says, “I abide in him,” ought to behave in the same way that he behaved.

⁷ My beloved ones, I am not writing a new command to you, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning. The old command is the word which you heard. ⁸ Again, however, I am writing a new command to you: it is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. ⁹ Anyone who says, “I am in the light,” while hating another family member, is still in darkness up to this very moment. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves another family member abides in the light, and there is no cause of offense in such a person. ¹¹ Anyone who hates another family member is in the darkness, and walks about in the darkness. Such people have no idea where they are going, because the darkness has blinded their eyes.

People of the lie

¹⁵ Do not love the world, or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the father’s love is not in them. ¹⁶ Everything in the world, you see—the greedy desire of the flesh, the greedy desire of the eyes, the pride of life—none of this is from the father. It is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, with all its greedy desires. But anyone who does God’s will abides forever.

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour. You have heard that “Antimessiah” is coming—and now many Antimessiahs have appeared! That’s how we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from among us, but they were not really of our number. If they had been of our number, you see, they would have remained with us. This happened so that it would be made crystal clear that none of them belonged to us. ²⁰ You, however, have the anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. ²¹ I am not writing to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and you know that no liar is of the truth.

²² Who is the liar? Is it not the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? Such a one is the Antimessiah—who denies the father and the son. ²³ Nobody who denies the son has the father. One who acknowledges the son has the father too. ²⁴ As for you: let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you too will abide in the son and in the father. ²⁵ And this is the promise which he himself promised us: the life of the age to come.

²⁶ I am writing to you about the people who are deceiving you. ²⁷ You have received the anointing from him; it abides in you, and you do not need to have anyone teach you. That anointing from him teaches you about everything; it is true, it isn’t a lie. So, just as he taught you, abide in him.

²⁸ And now, children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have boldness and may not be put to shame before him at his royal appearing. ²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been fathered by him.

Born of God

3 Look at the remarkable love the father has given us—that we should be called God’s children! That indeed is what we are. That’s why the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. ² Beloved ones, we are now, already, God’s children; it hasn’t yet been revealed what we are going to be. We know that when he is revealed we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him make themselves pure, just as he is pure.

⁴ Everyone who goes on sinning is breaking the law; sin, in fact, is lawlessness. ⁵ And you know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him. ⁶ Everyone who abides in him does not go on sinning. Everyone who goes on sinning has not seen him, or known him.

⁷ Children, don’t let anyone deceive you. The person who does righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ The person who goes on sinning is from the devil, because the devil is a sinner from the very start. The son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Everyone who is fathered by God does not go on sinning, because God’s offspring remain in him; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been fathered by God. ¹⁰ That is how it is clear who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: everyone who does not do what is right is not of God, particularly those who do not love their brother or sister.

The challenge of love

¹¹ This is the message which you heard right from the start, you see, that we should love one another. ¹² We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one, and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, while his brother’s were right.

¹³ Don’t be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the family. Anyone who doesn’t love abides in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates their brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has the life of the coming age abiding in them. ¹⁶ This is how we know love: he laid down his life for us. And we too ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Anyone who has the means of life in this world, and sees a brother or sister in need, and closes their heart against them—how can God’s love be abiding in them? ¹⁸ Children, let us not love in word, or in speech, but in deed and in truth.

¹⁹ Because of this, we know we are of the truth, and we will persuade our hearts of this fact before him, ²⁰ because if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. He knows everything. ²¹ Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God, ²² and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commands and give him pleasure when he sees what we are doing. ²³ And this is his command, that we should believe in the name of his son Jesus the Messiah, and should love one another, just as he gave us the commandment. ²⁴ Anyone who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. This is how we know that he abides in us, by his spirit that he has given us.

False prophets

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit. Rather, test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Many false prophets, you see, have gone out into the world. ² This is how we know God’s spirit: every spirit that agrees that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This spirit is actually the spirit of the Antimessiah. You have heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.

⁴ But you, children, are from God, and you have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world, and that is why they speak from the world, and why the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God; people who know God listen to us, but people who are not from God do not listen to us. That is how we can tell the spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

God’s love

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and all who love are fathered by God and know God. ⁸ The one who does not love has not known God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God’s love has appeared among us: God sent his only son into the world, so that we should live through him. ¹⁰ Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the sacrifice that would atone for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if that’s how God loved us, we ought to love one another in the same way. ¹² Nobody has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is completed in us. ¹³ That is how we know that we abide in him, and he in us, because he has given us a portion of his spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and bear witness that the father sent the son to be the world’s savior. ¹⁵ Anyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s son, God abides in them and they abide in God. ¹⁶ And we have known and have believed the love which God has for us.

God is love; those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. ¹⁷ This is what makes love complete for us, so that we may have boldness and confidence on the day of judgment, because just as he is, so are we within this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; complete love drives out fear. Fear has to do with punishment, and anyone who is afraid has not been completed in love. ¹⁹ We love, because he first loved us. ²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates their brother or sister, that person is a liar. Someone who doesn’t love a brother or sister whom they have seen, how can they love God, whom they haven’t seen? ²¹ This is the command we have from him: anyone who loves God should love their brother or sister too.

Faith wins the victory

5 Everyone who believes that the Messiah is Jesus has been fathered by God. Everyone who loves the parent loves the child as well. ² That is how we know that we love the children of God, because we love God and do what he commands. ³ This is what loving God means: it means keeping his commandments. His commandments, what’s more, are no trouble, ⁴ because everything that is fathered by God conquers the world. This is the victory that conquers the world: our faith.

⁵ Who is the one who conquers the world? Surely the one who believes that Jesus is God’s son! ⁶ It was he who came by means of water and blood, Jesus the Messiah, not by water only but by the water and the blood. The spirit is the one who bears witness, because the spirit is the truth. ⁷ There are three that bear witness, you see, ⁸ the spirit, the water and the blood, and these three agree together. ⁹ If we have received human witness, God’s witness is greater. This is the witness of God, the testimony he has borne to his son. ¹⁰ All those who believe in the son of God have the witness in themselves, but anyone who does not believe God has made a liar of him, because they have not believed in the witness which God bore concerning his son. ¹¹ This is the witness: God has given us the life of the age to come, and this life is in his son. ¹² Anyone who has the son has life. Anyone who does not have the son of God does not have life.

The true God

¹³ I am writing these things to you so that you may know that you, who believe in the name of the son of God, do indeed have the life of the age to come. ¹⁴ This is the bold confidence we have before him: if we ask for something according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess the requests we have asked from him.

¹⁶ If anyone sees a brother or sister committing a sin which is not deadly, they should ask, and God will give life to the people who are sinning in a way which is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin; I do not say that one should pray about that. ¹⁷ All sin is unrighteousness, and there is a sin which is not deadly.

¹⁸ We know that everyone fathered by God does not go on sinning. The one who was fathered by God keeps them, and the evil one does not touch them. ¹⁹ We know that we are from God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. ²⁰ We know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we should know the truth. And we are in the truth, in his son Jesus the Messiah.

This is the true God; this is the life of the age to come. ²¹ Children, guard yourselves against idols.

The sign of life

¹ From the Elder to the Chosen Lady and her children, whom I love in truth—as indeed, in addition to myself, do all those who know the truth, ² because of the truth that abides in us and is with us forever. ³ Grace, mercy and peace from God the father and from Jesus the Messiah, the son of the father, be with us in truth and love.

⁴ I was delighted when I found some of your children walking in the truth, just as we received the commandment from the father. ⁵ And now, dear Lady, I am writing to you, not indeed a new commandment, but the one we had from the very beginning, that we should love one another. ⁶ This is love: that we should behave in accordance with his commandments. And this is the commandment, just as you heard it from the very start, that we should behave in accordance with it.

Don’t be deceived!

⁷ Many deceivers, you see, have gone out into the world. These are people who do not admit that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh. Such a person is the Deceiver—the Antimessiah! ⁸ Watch out for yourselves, so that you won’t lose what we have worked for, but may receive the full reward.

⁹ Anyone who goes out on their own, and does not abide in the teaching of the Messiah, does not have God. One who abides in the teaching—such a one has the father and the son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, don’t receive them into the house; don’t even give them a greeting. ¹¹ Anyone who utters a greeting to such a person shares in their wicked deeds.

¹² I have many things to write to you, but I did not wish to write with pen and ink. I am hoping instead to come to you, and to speak face to face. That will complete our joy.

¹³ The children of your Chosen Sister send you greetings.

Hospitality for God’s people

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

² Beloved, I pray that all is going well with you, and that you are every bit as healthy physically as you are spiritually. ³ I was absolutely delighted, you see, when some of the family arrived and bore witness to your truthfulness, since clearly you are walking in the truth. ⁴ Nothing gives me greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

⁵ Beloved, when you are doing all that you do for family members, even when they are strangers, you are doing a faithful work. ⁶ These people have borne witness to your love in the presence of the assembly, and you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. ⁷ They went out for the sake of the Name, not accepting help from outsiders. ⁸ We ought to support people like that, so that we may become fellow workers with the truth.

Authority and example

⁹ I have written something to the assembly. But Diotrephes, who wants to be the most important person there, refuses to acknowledge us. ¹⁰ So, then, if I come, I will refer back to what he has done, and the slanderous words he has spoken against us. Not being satisfied with that, he doesn’t welcome family members himself; and, when others want to do so, he forbids them and throws them out of the assembly.

¹¹ Beloved, don’t imitate evil; imitate good! Someone who does good is from God; someone who does evil has not seen God. ¹² Demetrius has been well attested by everybody, and by the truth itself. We join in this testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

¹³ I have much to write to you, but I don’t want to do it with pen and ink. ¹⁴ I am hoping instead to see you very soon, so that we can talk face to face.

¹⁵ Peace be with you. All the friends greet you. Greet all the friends by name.