1 John 1:9
New International Version
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

New Living Translation
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

English Standard Version
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Berean Standard Bible
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Berean Literal Bible
If we should confess our sins, He is faithful and just, that He may forgive us our sins and might cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

King James Bible
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

New King James Version
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

New American Standard Bible
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

NASB 1995
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

NASB 1977
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Legacy Standard Bible
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Amplified Bible
If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].

Christian Standard Bible
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

American Standard Version
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and he will purge us from all our evil.

Contemporary English Version
But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

English Revised Version
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we've done wrong.

Good News Translation
But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.

International Standard Version
If we make it our habit to confess our sins, in his faithful righteousness he forgives us for those sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

Literal Standard Version
if we may confess our sins, He is steadfast and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from every unrighteousness;

Majority Standard Bible
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

New American Bible
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.

NET Bible
But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

New Revised Standard Version
If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

New Heart English Bible
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Webster's Bible Translation
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Weymouth New Testament
If we confess our sins, He is so faithful and just that He forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

World English Bible
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Young's Literal Translation
if we may confess our sins, stedfast He is and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from every unrighteousness;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Walking in the Light
8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.…

Cross References
Exodus 34:7
maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

1 Kings 8:30
Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

Psalm 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

Psalm 51:2
Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

Jeremiah 3:13
Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,'" declares the LORD.

John 17:25
Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I know You, and they know that You sent Me.


Treasury of Scripture

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

we confess.

Leviticus 26:40-42
If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; …

1 Kings 8:47
Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

2 Chronicles 6:37,38
Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly; …

he is.

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

Lamentations 3:23
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

1 Corinthians 1:9
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

just.

Isaiah 45:21
Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Romans 3:26
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

and to.

1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Psalm 19:12
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Psalm 51:2
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Jump to Previous
Clean Cleanse Cleanses Confess Faithful Forgive Forgiveness Forgives Making Openly Purify Righteous Sins Stedfast True. Unrighteousness Upright Word Wrong
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Clean Cleanse Cleanses Confess Faithful Forgive Forgiveness Forgives Making Openly Purify Righteous Sins Stedfast True. Unrighteousness Upright Word Wrong
1 John 1
1. He describes the person of Christ, in whom we have eternal life, by a communion with God;
5. to which we must adjoin by walking in the light.














Verse 9. - As in verse 7, we have the opposite hypothesis stated, and the thought advanced a stage. Not the exact opposite, "if we confess that we have sin;" but "if we confess our sins." It is easy to say, "I am a sinner;" but if confession is to have value it must state the definite acts of sin. The context ("deceive ourselves... he is faithful") shows that confession at the bar of the conscience and of God is meant. Circumstances must decide whether confession to man is required also, and this St. John neither forbids nor enjoins. Note the asyndeton; there is no δέ, as in verse 7. He is faithful and righteous, Δίκαιος must be rendered "righteous" rather than "just," to mark the contrast with unrighteousness ἀδικίτι, and the connexion with "Jesus Christ the Righteous" (1 John 2:1). To forgive... to cleanse. As explained in verse 7, the one refers to freeing us from the penalties of sin, justification; the other to freeing us from its contamination, sanctification. The sense of purpose is not wholly to be surrendered. No doubt ἵνα, like other particles, becomes weakened in later Greek; but even in later classical Greek the notion of purpose is mixed up with that of consequence. Much more is this the case in the New Testament, and especially in St. John, where what seems to us to be mere result is really design; and this higher aspect of the sequence of facts is indicated by ἵνα. It is God's nature to be faithful and righteous; but it is also his purpose to exhibit these attributes towards us; and this purpose is expressed in ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡμῖν.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
If
ἐὰν (ean)
Conjunction
Strong's 1437: If. From ei and an; a conditional particle; in case that, provided, etc.

we confess
ὁμολογῶμεν (homologōmen)
Verb - Present Subjunctive Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 3670: From a compound of the base of homou and logos; to assent, i.e. Covenant, acknowledge.

our
ἡμῶν (hēmōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

sins,
ἁμαρτίας (hamartias)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 266: From hamartano; a sin.

He is
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

faithful
πιστός (pistos)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4103: Trustworthy, faithful, believing. From peitho; objectively, trustworthy; subjectively, trustful.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

just
δίκαιος (dikaios)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1342: From dike; equitable; by implication, innocent, holy.

to
ἵνα (hina)
Conjunction
Strong's 2443: In order that, so that. Probably from the same as the former part of heautou; in order that.

forgive
ἀφῇ (aphē)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 863: From apo and hiemi; to send forth, in various applications.

us
ἡμῖν (hēmin)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

[our]
τὰς (tas)
Article - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

sins
ἁμαρτίας (hamartias)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 266: From hamartano; a sin.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

to cleanse
καθαρίσῃ (katharisē)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2511: To cleanse, make clean, literally, ceremonially, or spiritually, according to context. From katharos; to cleanse.

us
ἡμᾶς (hēmas)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

from
ἀπὸ (apo)
Preposition
Strong's 575: From, away from. A primary particle; 'off, ' i.e. Away, in various senses.

all
πάσης (pasēs)
Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.

unrighteousness.
ἀδικίας (adikias)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 93: Injustice, unrighteousness, hurt. From adikos; injustice; morally, wrongfulness.


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NT Letters: 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins he (1J iJ 1Jn i jn 1 jo)
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