3 John 1:1-10

1 The Elder to his dear friend Gaius. Truly I love you.

2 My dear friend, I pray that you may in all respects prosper and enjoy good health, just as your soul already prospers.

3 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.

4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are living in obedience to the truth.

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

6 They have testified, in the presence of the Church, to your love; and you will do well to help them on their journey in a manner worthy of your fellowship with God.

7 For it is for Christ that they have gone forth, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.

8 It is therefore our duty to show hospitality to such men, so that we may be fellow workers in promoting the truth.

9 I wrote to the Church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the first place among them, refuses to listen to us.

10 For this reason, if I come, I shall not forget his conduct, nor his idle and mischievous talk against us. And he does not stop there: he not only will not receive the brethren, but those who desire to do this he hinders, and excludes them from the Church.