Here's a small portion of my Greek final, the so-called twleve year old version. We have an actual child in our class who we present our translatiosn to. First we translate the passage then reword it so it can be understood by a young person. Here's my version of 2nd and 3rd John:
2nd John:
From your old teacher,
To the special Lady and her members: Am I alone in loving and acting on the Truth? I’m not, because everybody knows what truth is, because truth is inside of us and always will be. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God and his Son, Jesus Christ.
I was so happy to hear that the members of the church are on their best behavior and acting like they were taught to by the father. I’m writing, not about something new, but about love, and you all have loved each other from the start. Love is living your life in line with the teachings of the father, which you have always done, and lived your whole life that way. But there are some out there who lie about Jesus. These liars say that Jesus didn’t really live on Earth! Be careful, don’t mess up what we’ve done together, let’s finish our work and get paid. Whoever lies about Christ doesn’t know God, but whoever tells the truth about Christ has the Father and the Son. If somebody comes to you and is lying about Jesus, don’t invite them into the church or say, “Have a good day!” Even if somebody says, “Have a good day,” they help the liar.
Even though, I’ve got so much to write to you, I’d rather come out and see you all and talk face to face, that will be awesome!
Goodbye to my friends and the Lady, the special one.
3rd John:
The Old Teacher to Gaius, my best friend, whom I love,
Friend, I wish you the best in everything! I was so happy to hear from everybody about what a great guy you are. It makes me so happy to hear that my old friends are doing like they should. My friend, you take care of our friends and strangers, who all say, in front of the whole church, that you took good care of them before sending them off, and they didn’t need anything from anyone! We owe these guys a lot, because they love God, just like we do.
I’ve already written to you, but “Mr. Bossy,” Diotrephes, didn’t let us in. Because he’s such a jerk, I’m going to have to come over there and I will talk about his bad behavior: he says bad things, gossips about us, and that’s not enough for him. No, he doesn’t let our friends in the church, and the ones who want to join, he kicks out! My friend, do not be a copy-cat to bad behavior, but copy good behavior. When somebody is good, it comes from God, when they are bad, they don’t even know what God is!
Demetrius on the other hand, he’s just as good as you, Gaius! Everybody talks about how good he is; you’ve seen it.
I have so much to say to you, but I don’t want to with pen and paper. I will see you very soon and we’ll talk, face to face. Hope all is well, say, “Hello!” for me to everybody personally for me.
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