1 Johan 4

1 Thintlo rhoek, mueihla boeih te tangnah uh boeh. Pathen kah mueihla la a om uh khaw nuemnai uh dae. Diklai ah laithae tonghma rhoek muep pongpa uh coeng.

Dear friends, many people [who have a false message] are teaching it to people [MTY]. So do not trust every [message that someone claims/says that God’s] Spirit [MTY] [gave to him]. Instead, (test/think carefully about) the teachings that [you hear] in order to know whether they are from God or not.

2 He nen ni Pathen kah Mueihla te m'ming uh. Jesuh Khrih pumsa la ha pawk tila aka phong mueihla boeih te Pathen kah mueihla ni.

[I will tell] you how to recognize [teachings that come from] the Spirit of God: Those who affirm/say that Jesus Christ came [from God] to become a human [like us] are [teaching a message] that is from God.

3 Jesuh aka phong mueh boeih te tah Pathen kah mueihla om pawh. Te tah Khrihrhal kah ni te. Te te ha pawk te na yaak uh coeng. Te dongah oepsoeh la Diklai ah om coeng.

But those who do not affirm/say [that about] Jesus are not [teaching a message] from God. [They are teachers who] oppose Christ. You have heard that people like that are coming [to be among us]. Even now they are already here!

4 Oingaih rhoek, nangmih tah Pathen kah ca la na om uh dongah amih te na noeng uh. Nangmih ah aka om tah Diklai kah lakah tanglue ta.

As for you who are very dear to me, you belong to God, and you have refused [the false messages] that those people [teach], because [God], who enables you [to do what he wants], is (greater/more powerful) than ([Satan/the devil]), who enables (godless people/people who conduct their lives in a way that displeases God) [MTY].

5 Amih tah Diklai kah ni. Te dongah Diklai kah a thui uh vaengah amih kah te Diklai loh a yaak tangloeng.

As for [those who are teaching what is false], they are (godless people/people whose lives are displeasing to God) [MTY]. Because of that, they teach what (godless people/people whose lives are displeasing to God) [MTY] want to hear. That is why the (godless people/people whose lives displease God) [MTY] listen to them.

6 Mamih tah Pathen kah ni. Pathen aka ming loh mamih kah te a yaak. Pathen kah la aka om mueh loh mamih kah ol ya pawh. Tahae lamkah tah, oltak mueihla neh tholhhiknah mueihla te m'ming uh.

As for us [(exc)], [because] we belong to God, whoever (knows/has a close relationship with) God listens to us. [But] those who do not belong to God do not listen to us. That is how we can know whether [the things that people are teaching] [MTY] are true or whether they are false, and deceiving [people].

7 Thintlo rhoek khat neh khat he lungnah sih. Lungnah tah Pathen kah ni. Te dongah hlang aka lungnah boeih tah Pathen kah a sak la om tih Pathen te a ming.

Dear friends, we must love each other, because God [enables us] to love [each other], and because those who love [their fellow believers] have become God’s children and (know/have a close relationship with) him.

8 Pathen tah lungnah la a om dongah aka lungnah pawt loh Pathen te a ming moenih.

God’s [nature] is to love [all people]. So those who do not love [their fellow believers] do not (know/have a relationship with) God.

9 Hekah neh mamih taengah Pathen kah lungnah tah phoe. Amah lamloh hing sak ham Pathen loh khueh duen a capa te Diklai la han tueih coeng.

I will tell you how God has shown us [that he] loves us: He sent (his only Son/the only one who was also God) [to live] on the earth to enable us to live [eternally] as a result of [our trusting in what] he [accomplished for us by dying for us].

10 Lungnah tah te khuiah ni a om. Mamih loh Pathen te n'lungnah moenih. Tedae amah loh mamih n'lungnah dongah mamih kah tholhnah kongah ni dawthnah la a capa te a han tueih.

[And God] has shown [us what it means to] love [another person]: [It does] not [mean] that we loved God, but [it means] that God loved us and sent (his Son/the one who was also God) to sacrifice [his life] in order that [our sins might be forgiven] {[he might forgive] our sins}.

11 Thintlo rhoek, Pathen loh mamih n'lungnah tangloeng atah, mamih loh khat neh khat lungnah a kuek van.

Dear friends, since God loves us like that, we certainly ought to love each other!

12 Pathen a hmuh noek moenih. Khat neh khat n'lungnah atah, Pathen he mamih ah om tih a lungnah loh mamih ah rhuemtuet la om.

No one has ever seen God. [Nevertheless], if we love each other, [it is evident that] God lives within us and that we love others just like he [intends/wants us to do].

13 A Mueihla te mamih m'paek coeng dongah, amah dongah n'naeh uh tih mamih ah amah a naeh te m'ming uh.

[I will tell you] how we can be sure that we have a close relationship with God and that God is within us: He has put his Spirit within us.

14 Pa loh Diklai khangkung la capa han tueih te mamih long khaw m'hmuh uh dongah m'phong uh.

We [apostles] have seen (God’s Son/the one who is also God), and [we tell people] that the Father sent him to save [the people in] the world [MTY] [from being punished for their sins].

15 Jesuh te Pathen Capa ni tila aka phong te tah anih dongah Pathen om tih anih khaw Pathen khuiah om.

[So] those who affirm/say that Jesus is the (Son of/one who is also) God, God is within them, and they have a close relationship with God.

16 Pathen loh mamih taengah a khueh lungnah te mamih loh m'ming uh tih n'tangnah uh. Pathen tah lungnah ni. Lungnah dongah aka om tah Pathen dongah om tih Pathen khaw anih ah naeh van.

We have experienced how God loves us and we believe that he loves us. [As a result, we love others. Because] God’s [nature] is to love people, those who continue to love [others] have a close relationship with God, and God has a close relationship with them.

17 He nen he mamih taengah lungnah a cung daengah ni laitloeknah khohnin ah sayalhnah n'khueh uh eh. Amah a om bangla mamih khaw he Diklai ah n'om uh.

We [should] love others completely. And if we do that, when the time comes for [him to] judge us, we will be confident [that he will not condemn us] (OR, [that we have a close relationship with him]). [We will be confident of that] because of our [conducting our lives] in this world as Christ did.

18 Lungnah dongah rhihnah om pawh. Tedae lungnah a soep loh rhihnah te vil a voeih tih rhihnah loh dantatnah han khuen. Te dongah aka birhih tah lungnah dongah a soep moenih.

We will not be afraid [of God] if we [truly] love [him], because those who love [God] completely cannot possibly be afraid [of him]. [We would be] afraid only [if we thought that he would] punish us. So those who are afraid [of God certainly] are not loving [God] completely.

19 Amah loh lamhma la mamih n'lungnah dongah, mamih loh n'lungnah uh.

We love [God and our fellow believers] because God loved us first.

20 Khat khat loh Pathen te ka lungnah tila a thui tih a manuca te a hmuhuet atah laithae la om coeng. A hmuh nawn a manuca te aka lungnah pawt loh hmuh mueh Pathen te lungnah thai pawh.

[So] those who say “I love God” but hate a fellow believer are lying. Those who do not love one of their fellow believers, whom they have seen, certainly cannot be loving God, whom they have not seen.

21 Pathen aka lungnah loh a manuca te khaw a lungnah van ham Amah lamkah olpaek he khaw n'dang uh.

Keep in mind that this is what God has commanded us: If we love him, we must also love our fellow believers.