The Geneva Bible (1599)

The second letter of John, to the elect lady and her children. This page gives the book complete in the Geneva Bible of 1599, the Bible most read in Shakespeare's England, in its original spelling ("vnto", "heauen", "Iesus"). It is the text alone: the marginal notes for which the Geneva Bible was famous are not part of this transcription.

Chapter 1

1 THE ELDER to the elect Lady, and her children, whom I loue in the trueth: and not I onely, but also all that haue knowen the trueth,

2 For the trueths sake which dwelleth in vs, and shalbe with vs for euer:

3 Grace be with you, mercie and peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of the Father, with trueth and loue.

4 I reioyced greatly, that I founde of thy children walking in trueth, as we haue receiued a commandement of the Father.

5 And nowe beseeche I thee, Lady, (not as writing a newe commandement vnto thee, but that same which we had from the beginning) that we loue one another.

6 And this is that loue, that we should walke after his commandements. This commandement is, that as ye haue heard from the beginning, ye should walke in it.

7 For many deceiuers are entred into this worlde, which confesse not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh. He that is such one, is a deceiuer and an Antichrist.

8 Looke to your selues, that we lose not the things which we haue done, but that we may receiue full reward.

9 Whosoeuer transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Sonne.

10 If there come any vnto you, and bring not this doctrine, receiue him not to house, neither bid him, God speede:

11 For he that biddeth him, God speede, is partaker of his euill deedes. Although I had many things to write vnto you, yet I woulde not write with paper and ynke: but I trust to come vnto you, and speake mouth to mouth, that our ioy may be full.

12 The sonnes of thine elect sister greete thee, Amen.

Colophon

This page gives 2 John complete, every chapter and verse, as it stands in the electronic text of the Geneva Bible of 1599 distributed by eBible.org (USFM edition enggnv, source files dated 12 December 2025, downloaded 2 October 2026). eBible.org does not name the transcriber or the printed copy transcribed; CrossWire's module of the same text (Geneva1599) describes it as the "1599 Geneva Bible Electronic edition edited by Mark Langley." Geneva Bibles dated 1599 were issued in London by the deputies of Christopher Barker, and the same date was later carried by reprints made abroad; the electronic edition does not say which printing it follows. The spelling is the original spelling; nothing has been modernised or corrected here, including places where the electronic text is not uniform (for example "Iesus" beside an occasional "Jesus"). Verse numbers and chapter divisions are those of the electronic text, which follows the Geneva numbering where it differs from later Bibles. Only the electronic markup has been removed; the book heading is the electronic edition's heading, not a facsimile of the 1599 title.

The famous Geneva marginal notes are not in this text. Nor are the arguments and chapter summaries of the printed Bible, its prefatory matter, or the Apocrypha.

Licence: public domain. The eBible.org copyright page in the source package reads: "Public Domain … This digital copy is freely available world-wide, with no copyright restrictions, courtesy of eBible.org and many others. Note that the spelling used is the original spelling, which is not modern English."

This is an archival transcription of a historic English Bible. It is not a Good Works Translation.

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