Grace and peace [that special sense of spiritual well-being] be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Inasmuch as his power divine has bestowed on us every requisite for life and piety by the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence ??4 bestowing on us thereby promises precious and supreme, that by means of them you may escape the corruption produced within the world by lust, and participate in the divine nature ??5 for this very reason, do you contrive to make it your whole concern to furnish your faith with resolution, resolution with intelligence,

whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in that world by lust.

wherefore, the rather, brethren, be diligent to make stedfast your calling and choice, for these things doing, ye may never stumble,

But I think it right, so long as I remain in the body, my present dwelling-place, to arouse you by such reminders.

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

And we have more firm the prophetic word, to which we do well giving heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, till day may dawn, and a morning star may arise -- in your hearts;

Being conscious in the first place that no man by himself may give a special sense to the words of the prophets.

This letter which I am now writing to you, dear friends, is my second letter. In both my letters I seek to revive in your honest minds the memory of certain things,

That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

But, my loved ones, keep in mind this one thing, that with the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years are no more than one day.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Ye, then, beloved, knowing before, take heed, lest, together with the error of the impious being led away, ye may fall from your own stedfastness,

But be increased in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May he have glory now and for ever. So be it.

THAT which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld and our hands felt, concerning the Word of life,??2 and the life was made manifest, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us,??3 that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

(the Life has appeared; we saw it, we testify to it, we bring you word of that eternal Life which existed with the Father and was disclosed to us) ??3 it is of what we heard and saw that we bring you word, so that you may share our fellowship; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

if we may say -- 'we have fellowship with Him,' and in the darkness may walk -- we lie, and do not the truth;

and if in the light we may walk, as He is in the light -- we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son doth cleanse us from every sin;

if we may say -- 'we have not sin,' ourselves we lead astray, and the truth is not in us;

if we may confess our sins, stedfast He is and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from every unrighteousness;

if we may say -- 'we have not sinned,' a liar we make Him, and His word is not in us.

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

and in this we know that we have known him, if his commands we may keep;

and whoever may keep his word, truly in him the love of God hath been perfected; in this we know that in him we are.

My dearly-loved friends, it is no new command that I am now giving you, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning. By the old command I mean the teaching which you have already received.

I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, my little children, because you have known the Father.

Dear children, the last hour has come; and as you once heard that there was to be an anti-Christ, so even now many anti-Christs have appeared. By this we may know that the last hour has come.

Ye, then, that which ye heard from the beginning, in you let it remain; if in you may remain that which from the beginning ye did hear, ye also in the Son and in the Father shall remain,

And this is the promise which Christ [or, "God"] has given to us: [It is] never ending life. [Note: This passage may mean that God promised us "the Eternal Life," that is, Christ, See John 3:16].

I am writing these things to you about those whose purpose is that you may be turned out of the true way.

and you, the anointing that ye did receive from him, in you it doth remain, and ye have no need that any one may teach you, but as the same anointing doth teach you concerning all, and is true, and is not a lie, and even as was taught you, ye shall remain in him.

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

If you know that He is absolutely righteous, you know [for certain] that everyone who practices righteousness [doing what is right and conforming to God’s will] has been born of Him.

See ye what love the Father hath given to us, that children of God we may be called; because of this the world doth not know us, because it did not know Him;

beloved, now, children of God are we, and it was not yet manifested what we shall be, and we have known that if he may be manifested, like him we shall be, because we shall see him as he is;

and ye have known that he was manifested that our sins he may take away, and sin is not in him;

My little children, let no man lead you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous:

he who is doing the sin, of the devil he is, because from the beginning the devil doth sin; for this was the Son of God manifested, that he may break up the works of the devil;

By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother.

because this is the message that ye did hear from the beginning, that we may love one another,

Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

Anyone who has hate for his brother is a taker of life, and you may be certain that no taker of life has eternal life in him.

But whoso may have the world's substance, and see his brother having need, and shut up his bowels from him, how abides the love of God in him?

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

In this way we may be certain that we are true, and may give our heart comfort before him,

because if our heart may condemn -- because greater is God than our heart, and He doth know all things.

Beloved, if our heart may not condemn us, we have boldness toward God,

and whatever we may ask, we receive from Him, because His commands we keep, and the things pleasing before Him we do,

and this is His command, that we may believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and may love one another, even as He did give command to us,

he who obeys his commands remains within him ??and He remains within him. And this is how we may be sure he remains within us, by means of the Spirit he has given us.

My loved ones, do not put your faith in every spirit, but put them to the test, to see if they are from God: because a great number of false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source];

Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

We are of God: he who has the knowledge of God gives ear to us; he who is not of God does not give ear to us. By this we may see which is the true spirit, and which is the spirit of error.

Beloved, may we love one another, because the love is of God, and every one who is loving, of God he hath been begotten, and doth know God;

In this was manifested the love of God in us, because His Son -- the only begotten -- hath God sent to the world, that we may live through him;

My loved ones, if God had such love for us, it is right for us to have love for one another.

God no one hath ever seen; if we may love one another, God in us doth remain, and His love is having been perfected in us;

This is how we may be sure we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us a share in his own Spirit;

whoever may confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God in him doth remain, and he in God;

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

if any one may say -- 'I love God,' and his brother he may hate, a liar he is; for he who is not loving his brother whom he hath seen, God -- whom he hath not seen -- how is he able to love?

and this is the command we have from Him, that he who is loving God, may also love his brother.

in this we know that we love the children of God, when we may love God, and His commands may keep;

for this is the love of God, that His commands we may keep, and His commands are not burdensome;

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

And this is the boldness that we have toward Him, that if anything we may ask according to his will, He doth hear us,

and if we have known that He doth hear us, whatever we may ask, we have known that we have the requests that we have requested from Him.

If any one may see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give to him life to those sinning not unto death; there is sin to death, not concerning it do I speak that he may beseech;

All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death [one can repent of it and be forgiven].

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

My little children, guard yourselves from idols.

May grace, mercy, and peace be with us from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in all true love.

It is an intense joy to me to have found some of your children living true Christian lives, in obedience to the command which we have received from the Father.

and now I beseech thee, Kyria, not as writing to thee a new command, but which we had from the beginning, that we may love one another,

and this is the love, that we may walk according to His commands; this is the command, even as ye did hear from the beginning, that in it ye may walk,

See to yourselves, that we may not lose what we have wrought, but may receive full wages.

Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

The Elder:

To my dear friend Gaius: I love you in the truth.

Beloved, I pray that in every way you may succeed and prosper and be in good health [physically], just as [I know] your soul prospers [spiritually].

For it is an intense joy to me when brethren come and bear witness to your fidelity to the truth--that you live in obedience to the truth.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

My dear friend, you are acting faithfully in all your behaviour towards the brethren, even when they are strangers to you.

We therefore ought to welcome such, that we may be fellow-workers for the truth.

I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to put himself first, does not accept what we say and refuses to recognize my authority.

because of this, if I may come, I will cause him to remember his works that he doth, with evil words prating against us; and not content with these, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and those intending he doth forbid, and out of the assembly he doth cast.

My dear friend, do not follow wrong examples, but right ones. He who habitually does what is right is a child of God: he who habitually does what is wrong has not seen God.

Everybody testifies to Demetrius, and so does the Truth itself: I testify to him too, and you know my testimony is true.

I had much to say to you, but it is not my purpose to put it all down with ink and pen:

But I am hoping to see you in a short time, and to have talk with you face to face. May you have peace. Your friends here send you their love. Give my love to our friends by name.

Peace be to you. The friends [here] greet you. Greet the friends [personally] by name.

May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you [filling your heart with the spiritual well-being and serenity experienced by those who walk closely with God].

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Now it is my purpose to put you in mind, though you once had knowledge of all these things, of how the Lord, having taken a people safely out of Egypt, later sent destruction on those who had no faith;