3 John - Revelation 1

New King James Version

Greeting to Gaius

¹ The Elder,

To the beloved Gaius, ^(A)whom I love in truth:

² Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. ³ For I ^(B)rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. ⁴ I have no greater ^(C)joy than to hear that ^(D)my children walk in ^[a]truth.

Gaius Commended for Generosity

⁵ Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren ^[b]and for strangers, ⁶ who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, ⁷ because they went forth for His name’s sake, ^(E)taking nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸ We therefore ought to ^(F)receive^[c] such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

⁹ I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. ¹⁰ Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, ^(G)prating^[d] against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.

¹¹ Beloved, ^(H)do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. ^(I)He who does good is of God, ^[e]but he who does evil has not seen ^(J)God.

¹² Demetrius ^(K)has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also ^[f]bear witness, ^(L)and you know that our testimony is true.

Farewell Greeting

^13 (M)I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; ¹⁴ but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.

Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.

Greeting to the Called

¹ Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and ^(N)brother of James,

To those who are ^(O)called, ^[g]sanctified by God the Father, and ^(P)preserved in Jesus Christ:

² Mercy, ^(Q)peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Contend for the Faith

³ Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you ^(R)concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting ^(S)you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord ^[h]God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old and New Apostates

⁵ But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that ^(T)the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their ^[i]proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as ^(U)Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the ^[j]vengeance of eternal fire.

^8 (V)Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and ^(W)speak evil of ^[k]dignitaries. ⁹ Yet Michael the archangel, in ^[l]contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ^(X)“The Lord rebuke you!” ^10 (Y)But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way ^(Z)of Cain, ^(AA)have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished ^(AB)in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

¹² These are ^[m]spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried ^[n]about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ^13 (AC)raging waves of the sea, ^(AD)foaming up their own shame; wandering stars ^(AE)for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

¹⁴ Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the ^(AF)harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Apostates Predicted

¹⁶ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they ^(AG)mouth great swelling words, ^(AH)flattering people to gain advantage. ^17 (AI)But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ how they told you that ^(AJ)there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These are ^[o]sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Maintain Your Life with God

²⁰ But you, beloved, ^(AK)building yourselves up on your most holy faith, ^(AL)praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, ^(AM)looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

²² And on some have compassion, ^[p]making a distinction; ²³ but ^(AN)others save ^[q]with fear, ^(AO)pulling them out of the ^[r]fire, hating even ^(AP)the garment defiled by the flesh.

Glory to God

Introduction and Benediction

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, ^(AS)which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must ^[w]shortly take place. And ^(AT)He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, ^2 (AU)who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things ^(AV)that he saw. ^3 (AW)Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for ^(AX)the time is near.

Greeting the Seven Churches

⁴ John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him ^(AY)who is and ^(AZ)who was and who is to come, ^(BA)and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, ^(BB)the faithful ^(BC)witness, the ^(BD)firstborn from the dead, and ^(BE)the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him ^(BF)who ^[x]loved us ^(BG)and washed us from our sins in His own blood, ⁶ and has ^(BH)made us ^[y]kings and priests to His God and Father, ^(BI)to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

⁷ Behold, He is coming with ^(BJ)clouds, and every eye will see Him, even ^(BK)they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

^8 (BL)“I am the Alpha and the Omega, ^[z]the Beginning and the End,” says the ^[aa]Lord, ^(BM)“who is and who was and who is to come, the ^(BN)Almighty.”

Vision of the Son of Man

⁹ I, John, ^[ab]both your brother and ^(BO)companion in the tribulation and ^(BP)kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. ^10 (BQ)I was in the Spirit on ^(BR)the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me ^(BS)a loud voice, as of a trumpet, ¹¹ saying, ^[ac]“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches ^[ad]which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned ^(BT)I saw seven golden lampstands, ^13 (BU)and in the midst of the seven lampstands ^(BV)One like the Son of Man, ^(BW)clothed with a garment down to the feet and ^(BX)girded about the chest with a golden band. ¹⁴ His head and ^(BY)hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and ^(BZ)His eyes like a flame of fire; ^15 (CA)His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and ^(CB)His voice as the sound of many waters; ^16 (CC)He had in His right hand seven stars, ^(CD)out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, ^(CE)and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. ¹⁷ And ^(CF)when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But ^(CG)He laid His right hand on me, saying ^[ae]to me, “Do not be afraid; ^(CH)I am the First and the Last. ^18 (CI)I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, ^(CJ)I am alive forevermore. Amen. And ^(CK)I have the keys of ^[af]Hades and of Death. ^19 [ag]Write the things which you have ^(CL)seen, ^(CM)and the things which are, ^(CN)and the things which will take place after this. ²⁰ The ^[ah]mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are ^(CO)the ^[ai]angels of the seven churches, and ^(CP)the seven lampstands ^[aj]which you saw are the seven churches.