3 John — The Coverdale Bible (1535)

3 John is the short letter to Gaius on hospitality. In Coverdale’s Bible of 1535 it stands in the New Testament under the heading “The thirde Epistle of S. Ihon”. Coverdale’s summary of the chapters stands before the text; it is printed without chapter or verse divisions, so the text keeps its own paragraphs, with the marginal notes and references printed at the end.

The summe of this epistle.

He is glad of Gaius, that he walketh in the trueth: exhorteth him to be louynge vnto the poore christen in their persecucion, sheweth the vnkynde dealynge of Diotrephes, and the good reporte of Demetrius.

THE Elder. To the beloued Gaius, whom I loue in the trueth. My beloued, I wysshe [A] in all thinges, that thou prospere and fare well euen as thy soule prospereth. I reioysed greatly, whan the brethren came, and testified of the trueth that is in yᵉ, how thou walkest in the trueth. I haue no greater ioye, thē to heare that my childrē walke in the trueth.

My beloued, ⁽¹⁾ thou doest faithfully what so euer thou doest to the brethren and to straūgers, which haue borne witnesse of thy loue before the congregacion: and thou hast done well that thou dyddest brynge them forwarde on their iourney, worthely before God. For because of his names sake they wente forth, and toke nothinge of the Heythen. We therfore oughte to receaue soch, that we mighte be helpers vnto the trueth.

I wrote to the congregacion, but Diotriphes, which loueth to haue the preemynence amonge them, receaued vs not. Wherfore,[B] yf I come, I wil declare his dedes which he doeth, ieastinge vpō vs with malicious wordes: nether is he therwith cōtent. Not onely he himselfe receaueth not the brethrē, but also he forbyddeth them that wolde, and thrusteth them out of the congregacion.

My beloued, folowe not yᵗ which is euell, but that which is good. He that doeth well, is of God: but he that doeth euell, seyth not God. Demetrius hath good reporte of all men, and of the trueth: yee and we oure selues also beare recorde, and ye knowe that oure recorde is true. I had many thinges to wryte, but I wolde not with ynke, and pen wryte vnto the. But I trust shortly to se the and so wyl we speake together mouth to mouth. Peace be with the. The louers salute the. Grete the louers by name.

Notes

⁽¹⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

Colophon

This page is an archival transcription of the printed text, not a Good Works Translation. Source: Biblia the Byble, that is, the holy Scrypture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully translated in to Englyshe (M.D.XXXV; STC 2063.3), translated by Myles Coverdale, the copy in Cambridge University Library, keyed and encoded by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP Phase I, text A10349, 2005) and released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 public-domain dedication.

1 place is still marked ⟨illegible⟩ (0 in the text, 1 in the marginal notes).

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