3 John
From the Greek Codex Sinaiticus
About
A letter to GaiUs from ‘the older man’ (traditionally understood to be Jesus’Yeshua’sIshoa’s Apostle John), written sometime late in the 1st Century AD.
However, if it was written by the Apostle John, then he may have used one or more secretaries, because there are specific differences in the writing styles between all the works traditionally attributed to him.
Not accepted by Aramaic speakers at first
The Aramaic version of this letter was probably translated from Greek several centuries after it was first written. Therefore, the Aramaic is not very helpful when translating this text, as it was translated so late that it would just copy across any early corruptions in the Greek. For this reason, we don’t automatically defer to the Aramaic text in this book if it disagrees with the Greek. If we do, it will be marked in a translator note.
This happened because 3 John was one of the ‘Western Five’ books (2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation) that were not originally accepted as inspired by Aramaic-speaking Christians, and were therefore not included in the Peshitta (the standard Aramaic/Syriac Bible) until later.
They may have believed it to be a genuine letter from the Apostle, but believing that a letter is genuine and believing it’s inspired are two very different things.
- Learn more about what Bible books are inspired.
- See our timeline on Bible canon formation.
Source
We’ve translated it from Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest and most complete Greek manuscripts dating from the 300s AD.
Translation
- Known and suspected fake words and phrases commonly included in popular translations are
[greyed-out], followed by a link to our spurious texts article. - Alternative translations and editor notes appear [like this].
- Text that’s missing from our source manuscript, but filled in from another source, is marked with [[double brackets]].
- All circumlocutions for God’s Name appear as '[Jehovah][Yahweh]“Lord”'. You can change this to '[Yahweh]' or “Lord” in your settings.
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- The original texts had no chapter or verse numbers, paragraph breaks, line breaks, margins, punctuation, or capital letters. These are all added for clarity, but be aware that they can sometimes subtly alter the meaning. Learn more.
- Words [inserted] by the translator for clarity are always in [brackets]. These are not part of the original source text. Learn more.
Approval
This translated text has been proofread against our original Greek source manuscript. It was approved by the editor on July 19, 2025.
1
Introduction
1The older man, to my beloved GaiUs, whom I truly love:
2My loved one,
I pray that you’re doing well in everything, and that you continue in good health as the man within you prospers.
3I was so happy when the brothers came and testified about your truth, just as you continue to walk in truth. 4For nothing brings me greater joy than hearing that my children keep on walking in the truth!
5Loved one,
You’re doing a faithful work, whatever you do for the brothers, and for strangers too. 6They’ve testified about your love in front of the called ones.
So you’ll do well to send them off in a way that’s worthy of The God, 7because they went out for the sake of the Name, taking nothing from the other races. 8As a result, we’re obliged to welcome such ones hospitably, so we can be fellow workers of the called ones.
9I wrote something to the congregation, but DioTrephes (the one who likes to be the most prominent among them) refused to welcome us. 10That’s why, if I go there, I’ll remind him of how he acts, and of the wicked things he gossiped about us. Yet even this isn’t enough for him, because he not only doesn’t welcome the [visiting] brothers, he hinders those who want to do so, and he expels [the visitors] out of the congregation!
11Loved one,
Don’t imitate his bad ways, just do what is good. Because, those who do what is good come from The God, while those who do what is bad haven’t seen The God.
12Yes, everyone has testified [about this matter] to DeMetrius, and [it has even been testified] by the truth itself. And we also testify. And you know that what we’re saying is true.
13I had many other things to write about, but I don’t want to write to you with ink and [a] reed pen. 14I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face.
15May you have peace.
The friends send you their greetings.
Give my greetings to the friends by name.
Creative Commons License
This translated text and any accompanying artwork and audio is freely available to everyone under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
You're welcome to copy, share, print, and quote it as long as you give attribution to the 2001 Translation, it's not used for commercial purposes, and that no derivative works are created from it. Learn more.