John 3:16

John 3:16 (chapter 3, verse 16 of the Gospel of John) is one of the most widely quoted verses from the Christian Bible. It has been called the "Bible in a nutshell", because it briefly (and accurately) summarizes the Christian faith.

ουτως γαρ ηγαπησεν ο Θεος τον κοσμον, ωστε τον υιον τον μονογενη εδωκεν, ινα πας ο πιστευων εις αυτον μη αποληται αλλ εχη ζωην αιωνιον.

Which could be translated literally as:

For in this way God loved the world: that he gave the unique Son, so that all those trusting in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The King James version renders it as:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For a comparison of different translations of this verse, see Bible translations.

The text of the verse is also incorporated into the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, as part of a prayer said by the celebrant. This Divine Liturgy is commonly used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Byzantine rite of the Roman Catholic Church.

-modified after wikipedia's article on John 3:16 licenced under GNU FDL.