1 Johani 4
1 Shamwari dzinodikanwa, musatenda mweya yose yose, asi edzai mweya kuti muone kana ichibva kuna Mwari, nokuti vaprofita vazhinji venhema vakapinda munyika.
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 Aya ndiwo maziviro amungaita Mweya waMwari: mweya mumwe nomumwe unopupura kuti Jesu Kristu akauya munyama unobva kuna Mwari,
[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 asi mweya wose usingapupuri Jesu haubvi kuna Mwari. Ndiwo mweya waandikristu, wamakanzwa kuti uri kuuya uye kunyange iye zvino watova munyika.
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 Imi, vana vanodikanwa, munobva kuna Mwari uye makavakunda, nokuti ari mamuri mukuru kuna iye ari munyika.
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 Ivo ndevenyika, naizvozvo vanotaura sevenyika, uye nyika inovanzwa.
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 Isu tinobva kuna Mwari, uye ani naani anoziva Mwari anotinzwa; asi ani naani asingabvi kuna Mwari haatinzwi. Izvi ndizvo zvinoita kuti tizive mweya wechokwadi nomweya wenhema.
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 Shamwari dzinodikanwa, ngatidananei, nokuti rudo runobva kuna Mwari. Mumwe nomumwe anoda akaberekwa naMwari uye anoziva Mwari.
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 Ani naani asingadi haazivi Mwari, nokuti Mwari rudo.
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 Mwari akaratidza rudo rwake pakati pedu sezvizvi: Akatuma Mwanakomana wake mumwe woga munyika kuti tive noupenyu kubudikidza naye.
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 Urwu ndirwo rudo: kwete kuti isu takada Mwari, asi kuti iye akatida uye akatuma Mwanakomana wake kuti ave chibayiro chinoyananisa zvivi zvedu.
[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 Shamwari dzinodikanwa, sezvo Mwari akatida zvakadai, isu tinofanirawo kudanana.
Dear friends, since God loves us like that, we certainly ought to love each other!
12 Hakuna munhu akatongoona Mwari; asi kana tichidanana, Mwari anogara matiri, uye rudo rwake runokwaniswa matiri.
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 Tinoziva kuti tinogara maari uye iye matiri, nokuti akatipa zvoMweya wake.
[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 Uye takaona uye tikapupura kuti Baba vakatuma Mwanakomana wavo kuti ave Muponesi wenyika.
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 Kana munhu akapupura kuti Jesu ndiye Mwanakomana waMwari, Mwari anogara maari uye iye muna Mwari.
[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 Nokudaro tinoziva uye tinovimba norudo rwaMwari kwatiri. Mwari rudo. Ani naani anogara murudo anogara muna Mwari, uye Mwari maari.
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 Naizvozvo, rudo runokwaniswa pakati pedu kuitira kuti tigova nokuvimba pazuva rokutongwa, nokuti munyika ino takafanana naye.
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 Murudo hamuna kutya. Asi rudo rwakakwana runodzinga kutya, nokuti kutya kune chokuita nokurangwa. Munhu anotya haana kukwaniswa murudo.
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 Tinomuda nokuti iye akatanga kutida.
We love [God and our fellow believers] because God loved us first.
20 Kana munhu achiti, “Ndinoda Mwari,” asingadi hama yake, murevi wenhema. Nokuti ani naani asingadi hama yake yaakaona, haagoni kuda Mwari, waasina kumboona.
[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 Uye akatipa murayiro uyu: Ani naani anoda Mwari anofanirawo kuda hama yake.
Keep in mind that this is what God has commanded us: If we love him, we must also love our fellow believers.
