but set Christ apart [as] Lord in your hearts, always ready to [make] a defense to anyone who asks you [for] an accounting concerning the hope [that is] in you.

But [do so] with courtesy and respect, having a good conscience, so that in [the things] in which you are slandered, the ones who malign your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, in order that he could bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

who were formerly disobedient, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, [while] an ark was being constructed, in which a few--that is, eight souls--were rescued through water.

For the time that has passed [was] sufficient {to do what the Gentiles desire to do}, having lived in licentiousness, [evil] desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries,

Because for this reason also the gospel was preached to those who are dead, so that they were judged {by human standards} in the flesh, but they may live in the spirit {by God's standards}.

If anyone speaks, [let it be] as the oracles of God; if anyone serves, [let it be] as by the strength that God provides, so that in all [things] God will be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power {forever and ever}. Amen.

But to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice [and] be glad.

Therefore [I, your] fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, [and] also a sharer of the glory that is going to be revealed, exhort the elders among you:

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the [right] time,

Through Silvanus, the faithful brother (as I consider [him]), I have written to you {briefly} to encourage [you] and to attest that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.

because his divine power has bestowed on us all [things] [that are] necessary for life and godliness, through the knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence of character,

through which things he has bestowed on us his precious and very great promises, so that through these you may become sharers of the divine nature [after] escaping from the corruption [that is] in the world because of evil desire,

Therefore I intend to remind you continually concerning these [things], although [you] know [them] and are established in the truth that you have.

[because I] know that the removal of my habitation is imminent, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

And I will also make every effort [that] you are able at any time, after my departure, {to recall these things to mind}.

For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ [by] following ingeniously concocted myths, but [by] being eyewitnesses of that one's majesty.

recognizing this above all, that every prophecy of scripture does not come about from one's own interpretation,

(for that righteous man, [as he] lived among them day after day, was tormenting [his] righteous soul by the lawless deeds [he was] seeing and hearing),

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known [it], to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them.

above all knowing this, that in the last days scoffers will come with scoffing, following according to their own desires

For [when] they maintain this, it escapes [their] notice that the heavens existed long ago and the earth held together out of water and through water by the word of God,

by means of which things the world that existed at that time was destroyed [by] being inundated with water.

Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your [notice], that one day with the Lord [is] like a thousand years, and a thousand years [is] like one day.

And 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,

Therefore, dear friends, [because you] know [this] beforehand, guard yourselves so that you do not lose your own safe position [because you] have been led away by the error of lawless persons.

what we have seen and heard, we announce to you also, in order that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship [is] with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

And these [things] we write, in order that our joy may be complete.

And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light and there [is] no darkness in him at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

If we say that we do not have sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so that he will forgive us [our] sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these [things] to you in order that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous [one],

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

But whoever keeps his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

The one who says [that he] resides in him ought also to walk just as that one walked.

because everything [that is] in the world--the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of material possessions--is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, by which we know that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they went out], in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us.

Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

And [as for] you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you do not have need that anyone teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all [things], and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you reside in him.

And now, little children, remain in him, so that whenever he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by him.

See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called children of God, and we are! Because of this the world does not know us: because it did not know him.

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as that one is pure.

And you know that that one was revealed in order that he might take away sins, and in him [there] is no sin.

Little children, let no one deceive you: the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as that one is righteous.

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another,

We know that we have passed over from death to life because we love the brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that every murderer does not have eternal life residing in him.

We have come to know love by this: that {he} laid down his life on behalf of us, and we ought to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers.

By this we know that we are of the truth and will convince our heart before him,

that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart and knows all [things].

And this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as {he commanded us}.

And the one who keeps his commandments resides in him, and he in him. And by this we know that he resides in us: by the Spirit whom he has given to us.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, [of] which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God sent his one and only Son into the world in order that we may live through him.

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son [to be the] propitiation for our sins.

By this we know that we reside in him and he in us: that he has given us of his Spirit.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son [to be the] Savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God.

And we have come to know and have believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as that one is, [so] also are we in this world.

And this [is] the commandment we have from him: that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves {the father} also loves the [child] fathered by him.

By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and keep his commandments.

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,

Now who is the one who conquers the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

For [there] are three that testify,

If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son.

(The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.)

And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

These [things] I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.

And this is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us [in] whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him.

If anyone should see his brother sinning a sin not [leading] to death, he should ask, and he will grant life to him, to those who sin not [leading] to death. ([There] is a sin [leading] to death; I do not say that he should ask about that.

We know that everyone who is fathered by God does not sin, but the one fathered by God, he protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in [the power of] the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, in order that we may know the one who is true, and we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.

because of the truth that resides in us and will be with us {forever}.

And now I ask you, lady (not as [if I were] writing a new commandment to you, but [one] that we have had from the beginning), that we should love one another.

And this is love: that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have worked for, but receive a full reward.

[Although] I have many [things] to write to you, I do not want [to do so] by means of paper and ink, but I hope to be with you and to speak {face to face}, so that your joy may be complete.

I have no greater joy than this: that I hear my children are walking in the truth.

Therefore we ought to support such [people], so that we become fellow workers with [the] truth.

Demetrius has been testified to by all, even by the truth itself. And we also testify [to him], and you know that our testimony is true.

Now I want to remind you, [although] you know everything once and for all, that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, the second time destroyed those who did not believe.

Despite that, in the same way also these [men], [because of their] dreams, defile the flesh and reject authority and blaspheme majestic beings.

But these persons blaspheme all that they do not understand, and all that they understand by instinct like the irrational animals, by these [things] they are being destroyed.

to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly concerning all their ungodly deeds that they have committed in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

who testified about the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, all that he saw.

'I know your works, and your labor and patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you found them [to be] false.

But I have [this] against you: that you have left your first love.

But you do have this: that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, [things] which I also hate.

Do not be afraid of [the things] which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw [some] of you into prison so that you may be tested, and you will experience affliction ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

But I have a few [things] against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.