2 John 1; 3 John 1; Jude 1

1 From the elder. To the chosen gentlewoman and her children, whom I truly love (and I am not the only one, but also all who know the truth),

2 because of the truth that remains with us and will be with us forever.

3 Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, will be ours who live in truth and love.

4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children living in the truth, just as we had been commanded by the Father.

5 Now, dear friends, I am requesting that we love each other. It's not as though I'm writing a new command to you, but it's one we have had from the beginning.

6 This is love: that we live according to his commands. This is the command that you heard from the beginning: live in love.

7 Many deceivers have gone into the world who do not confess that Jesus Christ came as a human being. This kind of person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

8 Watch yourselves so that you don't lose what we've worked for but instead receive a full reward.

9 Anyone who goes too far and does not continue in the teaching about Christ does not have God. Whoever continues in this teaching has both the Father and the Son.

10 Whoever comes to you who does not affirm this teaching should neither be received nor welcomed into your home,

11 because welcoming people like that is the same thing as sharing in their evil actions.

12 I have a lot to tell you. I don't want to use paper and ink, but I hope to visit you and talk with you face-to-face, so that our joy can be complete.

13 Your chosen sister's children greet you.

1 From the elder. To my dear friend Gaius, whom I truly love.

2 Dear friend, I'm praying that all is well with you and that you enjoy good health in the same way that you prosper spiritually.

3 I was overjoyed when the brothers and sisters arrived and spoke highly of your faithfulness to the truth, shown by how you live according to the truth.

4 I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are living according to the truth.

5 Dear friend, you act faithfully in whatever you do for our brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers.

6 They spoke highly of your love in front of the church. You all would do well to provide for their journey in a way that honors God,

7 because they left on their journey for the sake of Jesus Christ without accepting any support from the Gentiles.

8 Therefore, we ought to help people like this so that we can be coworkers with the truth.

9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, doesn't welcome us.

10 Because of this, if I come, I will bring up what he has done—making unjustified and wicked accusations against us. And as if that were not enough, he not only refuses to welcome the brothers and sisters but stops those who want to do so and even throws them out of the church!

11 Dear friend, don't imitate what is bad but what is good. Whoever practices what is good belongs to God. Whoever practices what is bad has not seen God.

12 Everyone speaks highly of Demetrius, even the truth itself. We also speak highly of him, and you know that what we say is true.

13 I have a lot to say to you, but I don't want to use pen and ink.

14 I hope to see you soon, and we will speak face-to-face.

15 Peace be with you. Your friends here greet you. Greet our friends there by name.

1 Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To those who are called, loved by God the Father and kept safe by Jesus Christ.

2 May you have more and more mercy, peace, and love.

3 Dear friends, I wanted very much to write to you concerning the salvation we share. Instead, I must write to urge you to fight for the faith delivered once and for all to God's holy people.

4 Godless people have slipped in among you. They turn the grace of our God into unrestrained immorality and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Judgment was passed against them a long time ago.

5 I want to remind you of something you already know very well. The Lord, who once saved a people out of Egypt, later destroyed those who didn't maintain their faith.

6 I remind you too of the angels who didn't keep their position of authority but deserted their own home. The Lord has kept them in eternal chains in the underworld until the judgment of the great day.

7 In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and neighboring towns practiced immoral sexual relations and pursued other sexual urges. By undergoing the punishment of eternal fire, they serve as a warning.

8 Yet, even knowing this, these dreamers in the same way pollute themselves, reject authority, and slander the angels.

9 The archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil about Moses' body, did not dare charge him with slander. Instead, he said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

10 But these people slander whatever they don't understand. They are destroyed by what they know instinctively, as though they were irrational animals.

11 They are damned, for they follow in the footsteps of Cain. For profit they give themselves over to Balaam's error. They are destroyed in the uprising of Korah.

12 These people are like jagged rocks just below the surface of the water waiting to snag you when they join your love feasts. They feast with you without reverence. They care only for themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; fruitless autumn trees, twice dead, uprooted;

13 wild waves of the sea foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom the darkness of the underworld is reserved forever.

14 Enoch, who lived seven generations after Adam, prophesied about these people when he said, "See, the Lord comes with his countless holy ones,

15 to execute judgment on everyone and to convict everyone about every ungodly deed they have committed in their ungodliness as well as all the harsh things that sinful ungodly people have said against him."

16 These are faultfinding grumblers, living according to their own desires. They speak arrogant words and they show partiality to people when they want a favor in return.

17 But you, dear friends, remember the words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

18 They said to you, "In the end time scoffers will come living according to their own ungodly desires."

19 These people create divisions. Since they don't have the Spirit, they are worldly.

20 But you, dear friends: build each other up on the foundation of your most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit,

21 keep each other in the love of God, wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will give you eternal life.

22 Have mercy on those who doubt.

23 Save some by snatching them from the fire. Fearing God, have mercy on some, hating even the clothing contaminated by their sinful urges.

24 To the one who is able to protect you from falling, and to present you blameless and rejoicing before his glorious presence,

25 to the only God our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, belong glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, now and forever. Amen.