But we must always thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

For you know well how you must imitate me. For I did not lead an idle or disorderly life among you;

For when I was with you, I gave you this direction, "If a person refuses to work, he must not be allowed to eat."

but we command such and exhort them in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietude working, they must eat their own bread.

But you, brothers, must never grow tired of doing right.

You must not regard him as an enemy but warn him as a brother.

The aim of your instruction must be love that springs from a pure heart and from a good conscience and from a sincere faith.

but he must remember that the Law is not enacted for a good man, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the irreligious and sinful, for the godless and profane, for parricides and murderers,

To do this you must hold firmly to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck in regard to the faith.

who gave himself as a ransom on behalf of all men. This must be our testimony, as opportunities present themselves;

Now I want the men to offer prayer at any meeting of the church; and let the hands they lift to heaven be holy ??they must be free from anger and dissension.

Likewise the women are to dress in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control. Their adornment must not be with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothing,

A married woman must learn in quiet and in perfect submission.

I do not permit a married woman to practice teaching or domineering over a husband; she must keep quiet.

So the pastor must be a man above reproach, must have only one wife, must be temperate, sensible, well-behaved, hospitable, skillful in teaching;

[He must] not be a drunkard or a fighter, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not wanting to get money by questionable [or, dishonest] means.

He must manage his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity [keeping them respectful and well-behaved]

He must not be a new convert, or else becoming conceited he may incur the doom the devil met.

He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, or else he may incur reproach and fall into the devil's trap.

Deacons, too, must be serious, sincere in their talk, not addicted to strong drink or dishonest gain,

but they must continue to hold the open secret of faith with a clear conscience.

And they must also be tested first; if they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons.

The deaconesses too must be serious, not gossips; they must be temperate and perfectly trustworthy.

A deacon too must have only one wife, and manage his children and household well.

But if I am delayed, [I am writing] in order that you may know how one must conduct oneself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and mainstay of the truth.

This is what you must urge and teach.

Widows who really need it must be supported from the funds.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in the treatment of their own families, and to pay the debt they owe their parents or grandparents, for this is acceptable to God.

No widow under sixty years of age should be put on this roll. A widow must have had but one husband,

must have a reputation for doing good deeds, as bringing up children, being hospitable to strangers, washing the feet of God's people, helping people in distress, or devoting herself to any sort of doing good.

But the younger widows you must not enrol; for as soon as they begin to chafe against the yoke of Christ, they want to marry,

As it is, some widows have already turned after Satan. ??16 Any believer, man or woman, who has widowed relatives, must give them relief; the church is not to be burdened with them; she has to relieve the widows who really need relief.

If any believing woman has widows, she must help them, and the church must not be burdened, in order that it may help those [who are] truly widows.

The elders who lead well must be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor by speaking and teaching.

For the Scripture says, "You must not muzzle an ox when he is treading out the grain," and, "The workman deserves his pay."

Those guilty of sin must be rebuked before all, as a warning to the rest.

I testify before God, and Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that you must guard these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality.

All who are under the yoke of slavery must esteem their masters to be deserving the highest respect, so that the name of God and our teaching may not be abused.

Those who have Christian masters must not pay them less respect because they are brothers; they must serve them all the better, because those who get the benefit of their service are believers and so are dear to them. These are the things that you must continue to teach and urge them to do.

If we have food and clothes, we must be content with that.

But you, as a man of God, must be fleeing always from these things; you must constantly strive for uprightness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Impress on those who are rich in the present age that they must not be haughty nor set their hopes on riches--that unstable foundation--but on God who provides us richly with all things for our enjoyment.

They must be beneficent, rich in noble deeds, open-handed and liberal;

So you must never be ashamed of me His prisoner, but suffer for the good news in fellowship with me and by the power of God.

So you, my son, must keep renewing your strength in the spiritual blessing that comes through union with Christ Jesus.

The things you learned from me before many witnesses you must commit to trustworthy men who will be competent to teach others too.

You therefore must share in hardship, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

The farmer who labors must be the first to partake of the fruits.

But God's foundation stands unshaken, with these inscriptions: "The Lord knows the people who belong to Him" and "Everyone who bears the name of the Lord must abstain from evil."

You must keep on fleeing from the evil impulses of youth, but ever strive for uprightness, faith, love, and peace, in association with those who call upon the Lord with pure hearts.

and a slave of the Lord must not quarrel but must be gentle to everybody; he must be a skillful teacher, and not resentful under injuries.

With gentleness he must correct his opponents, for God might grant them repentance that would lead them to a full knowledge of the truth,

Now you must know that in the last days there are going to be hard times.

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecutions.

But you, on your part, must continue to abide by what you have learned and been led to rely upon, because you know from whom you learned it

But you, on your part, must always keep your head cool, suffer hardship, do your work as a herald of the good news, and so fill your ministry to the brim.

You too must be on your guard against him, for he has vigorously opposed my teaching.

each elder must be above reproach, have only one wife, and his children must not be liable to the charge of profligacy or disobedience.

For as God's trustee a pastor must be above reproach, not stubborn or quick-tempered or addicted to strong drink or pugnacious or addicted to dishonest gain,

but he must be hospitable, a lover of the good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled.

He must hold to the faithful word according to the teaching, so that he may be able both to encourage by sound teaching, and to confute our opponents.

For there are many individuals who are unruly, empty talkers and deceivers, particularly those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped;

whose mouths must be stopped, for they upset whole families by teaching things they ought not to think, for the sake of dishonest gain.

You must continue telling the people what is proper for wholesome teaching:

In the same way exhort aged women to let their conduct be such as becomes consecrated persons. They must not be slanderers nor enslaved to wine-drinking. They must be teachers of what is right.

they must give good counsel, so that the young women may be trained to love their husbands and children,

Slaves must be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not to talk back,

teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we must live prudently and righteously and holily in this present age;

You must continue teaching this, and continue exhorting and reproving people, with full authority. Let no one belittle you.

Remind people that they must submit to the rulers who are in authority over them; that they must obey the magistrates, be prepared for every right action,

they must speak evil of none, they must not be quarrelsome, but gentle, showing perfect meekness toward all.

This saying is trustworthy. On this I want you to firmly insist; that those who have faith in God must be careful to maintain honest occupations. Such counsels are good and profitable for men.

Our people too must set examples of doing good, so as to meet the necessary demands and not to live unfruitful lives.

But I must add, prepare me also a lodging; for I hope that through your prayers I shall be restored to you.

When He again brings His firstborn into the world, He says, And all God’s angels must worship Him.

This is why we must pay much closer attention to the message once heard, to keep from drifting to one side.

You must not harden your hearts as they did in provoking me, as on the day in the desert they tested me,

and yet the warning continues to be spoken: "If you but hear His voice, you must not harden your hearts as they did in provoking me."

Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

He again fixes a definite day, saying long afterward through David, as has been quoted: "If you but hear His voice, you must not harden your hearts."

So there must still be a promised Sabbath of Rest for God's people.

Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

And no creature is hidden in the sight of him, but all [things are] naked and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom {we must give our account}.

and must be one who is able to bear patiently with the ignorant and erring, because he himself also is beset with infirmity.

Because of this, he must make a sin offering for himself as well as for the people.

to himself the honour of the priesthood: he must be called thereto by God, as Aaron was.

Therefore we must progress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ and move on to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,

Now see how great this man must have been that even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of his spoils.

now the priesthood being changed, the law must necessarily be changed too.

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; so this High Priest too must have some sacrifice to offer,

while above it, overshadowing the mercy-seat, were the cherubim of glory. But I must not speak about these in detail.

but the second tent is entered only once a year by the high priest alone ??and it must not be without blood, which he presents on behalf of himself and the errors of the People.

For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it.

else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Indeed, just as men must die but once and after that be judged,

But you must continue to remember those earlier days when first you received the light and then endured so great a struggle with persecution,

So you must never give up your confident courage, for it holds a rich reward for you.

And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him ; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.

of whom it had been said, "Through Isaac your offspring must be traced."