³ (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children—and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: Because it did not know him. ² Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. ³ And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).

⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness. ⁵ And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ⁶ Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. ⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. ⁸ The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin because God’s seed resides in them, and thus they are not able to sin because they have been fathered by God. ¹⁰ By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness—the one who does not love his fellow Christian—is not of God.

¹¹ For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, ¹² not like Cain who was of the evil one and brutally murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.

¹³ Therefore do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love our fellow Christians. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. ¹⁶ We have come to know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians. ¹⁷ But whoever has the world’s possessions and sees his fellow Christian in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God reside in such a person?

¹⁸ Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence, ²⁰ that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things. ²¹ Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God, ²² and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him. ²³ Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment. ²⁴ And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.

⁴ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that refuses to confess Jesus, that spirit is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

⁴ You are from God, little children, and have conquered them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world’s perspective and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. ⁸ The person who does not love does not know God because God is love. ⁹ By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹¹ Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵ If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. ¹⁷ By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹ We love because he loved us first.

²⁰ If anyone says “I love God” and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹ And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.

³⁷ By David.

Do not fret when wicked men seem to succeed.

Do not envy evildoers.

² For they will quickly dry up like grass,

and wither away like plants.

³ Trust in the Lord and do what is right.

Settle in the land and maintain your integrity.

⁴ Then you will take delight in the Lord,

and he will answer your prayers.

⁵ Commit your future to the Lord.

Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf.

⁶ He will vindicate you in broad daylight,

and publicly defend your just cause.

⁷ Wait patiently for the Lord!

Wait confidently for him!

Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner,

a man who carries out wicked schemes.

⁸ Do not be angry and frustrated.

Do not fret. That only leads to trouble.

⁹ Wicked men will be wiped out,

but those who rely on the Lord are the ones who will possess the land.

¹⁰ Evil men will soon disappear;

you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone.

¹¹ But the oppressed will possess the land

and enjoy great prosperity.

¹² Evil men plot against the godly

and viciously attack them.

¹³ The Lord laughs in disgust at them,

for he knows that their day is coming.

¹⁴ Evil men draw their swords

and prepare their bows,

to bring down the oppressed and needy,

and to slaughter those who are godly.

¹⁵ Their swords will pierce their own hearts,

and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶ The little bit that a godly man owns is better than

the wealth of many evil men,

¹⁷ for evil men will lose their power,

but the Lord sustains the godly.

¹⁸ The Lord watches over the innocent day by day,

and they possess a permanent inheritance.

¹⁹ They will not be ashamed when hard times come;

when famine comes they will have enough to eat.

²⁰ But evil men will die;

the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated—

they will go up in smoke.

²¹ Evil men borrow, but do not repay their debt,

but the godly show compassion and are generous.

²² Surely those favored by the Lord will possess the land,

but those rejected by him will be wiped out.

²³ The Lord grants success to the one

whose behavior he finds commendable.

²⁴ Even if he trips, he will not fall headlong,

for the Lord holds his hand.

²⁵ I was once young, now I am old.

I have never seen the godly abandoned,

or their children forced to search for food.

²⁶ All day long they show compassion and lend to others,

and their children are blessed.

²⁷ Turn away from evil. Do what is right.

Then you will enjoy lasting security.

²⁸ For the Lord promotes justice,

and never abandons his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure,

but the children of the wicked are wiped out.

²⁹ The godly will possess the land

and will dwell in it permanently.

³⁰ The godly speak wise words

and promote justice.

³¹ The law of their God controls their thinking;

their feet do not slip.

³² The wicked set an ambush for the godly

and try to kill them.

³³ But the Lord does not surrender the godly,

or allow them to be condemned in a court of law.

³⁴ Rely on the Lord. Obey his commands.

Then he will permit you to possess the land;

you will see the demise of the wicked.

³⁵ I have seen ruthless, wicked people

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil.

³⁶ But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared.

I looked for them, but they could not be found.

³⁷ Take note of the one who has integrity. Observe the upright.

For the one who promotes peace has a future.

³⁸ Sinful rebels are totally destroyed;

the wicked have no future.

³⁹ But the Lord delivers the godly;

he protects them in times of trouble.

⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and rescues them;

he rescues them from the wicked and delivers them,

for they seek his protection.