3 John

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹From the elder. To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. ²Dear friend, I pray that all goes well for you. I pray that you are in good health, just as your soul is doing well. ³Some brothers came and told about how true you are to the truth. They said you keep walking in it. That made me very happy. ⁴Nothing makes me happier than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. ⁵Dear friend, you are being faithful in what you do for the brothers. You do it even though they are strangers to you. ⁶They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a way that honors God. You will do well to do this. ⁷For they went out for the sake of the Name. They took nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸So we should help men like these. Then we will be working together with them for the truth. ⁹I wrote to the church about this. But Diotrephes loves to be first, and he will not listen to us. ¹⁰So if I come, I will point out what he is doing. He is saying evil, false things about us. And that is not enough for him. He will not welcome the brothers. He stops others who want to welcome them. He even puts them out of the church. ¹¹Dear friend, do not copy what is evil. Copy what is good. The one who does good is from God. The one who does evil has not seen God. ¹²Everyone speaks well of Demetrius, and so does the truth itself. We speak well of him too. And you know that what we say is true. ¹³I have much to write to you. But I'd rather not write it with pen and ink. ¹⁴Instead, I hope to see you soon. Then we can talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send you greetings. Greet each of our friends there by name.