To Timothy, my well-loved child: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I give praise to God, whose servant I have been, with a heart free from sin, from the time of my fathers, because in my prayers at all times the thought of you is with me, night and day

Keep the form of those true words which you had from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

You have had news that all those in Asia went away from me; among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes:

A fighting man, when he is with the army, keeps himself free from the business of this life so that he may be pleasing to him who has taken him into his army.

Keep in mind Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, who came back from the dead, as my good news gives witness:

Put these things before them, giving them orders in the name of the Lord to keep themselves from fighting about words, which is of no profit, only causing error in their hearers.

Men whose ideas are all false, who say that the coming back from the dead has even now taken place, overturning the faith of some.

But God's strong base is unchanging, having this sign, The Lord has knowledge of those who are his: and, Let everyone by whom the name of the Lord is named be turned away from evil.

If a man makes himself clean from these, he will be a vessel for honour, made holy, ready for the master's use, ready for every good work.

But keep yourself from those desires of the flesh which are strong when the body is young, and go after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those whose prayers go up to the Lord from a clean heart.

And so they may get themselves free from the net of the Evil One, being made the prisoners of the Lord's servant, for the purpose of God.

For these are they who go secretly into houses, making prisoners of foolish women, weighted down with sin, turned from the way by their evil desires,

My punishments and pain; the things which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; the cruel attacks made on me: and the Lord made me free from them all.

And that from the time when you were a child, you have had knowledge of the holy Writings, which are able to make you wise to salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus.

Every holy Writing which comes from God is of profit for teaching, for training, for guiding, for education in righteousness:

From now on, the crown of righteousness is made ready for me, which the Lord, the upright judge, Will give to me at that day: and not only to me, but to all those who have had love for his revelation.

For Demas has gone away from me, for love of this present life, and has gone to Thessalonica: Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

The coat which I did not take from Troas and which is with Carpus, get when you come, and the books, specially the papers.

At my first meeting with my judges, no one took my part, but all went away from me. May it not be put to their account.

The Lord will keep me safe from every evil work and will give me salvation in his kingdom in heaven: to whom be glory for ever and ever. So be it.

To Titus, my true child in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.

I did not take you with me when I went away from Crete, so that you might do what was necessary to put things in order there, placing men in authority over the churches in every town, as I said to you;

Training us so that, turning away from evil and the desires of this world, we may be living wisely and uprightly in the knowledge of God in this present life;

Who gave himself for us, so that he might make us free from all wrongdoing, and make for himself a people clean in heart and on fire with good works.

For in the past we were foolish, hard in heart, turned from the true way, servants of evil desires and pleasures, living in bad feeling and envy, hated and hating one another.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

But without your approval I would do nothing; so that your good works might not be forced, but done freely from your heart.

For it is possible that for this reason he was parted from you for a time, so that you might have him for ever;

Who, being the outshining of his glory, the true image of his substance, supporting all things by the word of his power, having given himself as an offering making clean from sins, took his seat at the right hand of God in heaven;

My brothers, take care that there is not by chance in any one of you an evil heart without belief, turning away from the living God:

For those of us who have belief come into his rest; even as he has said, As I said in my oath when I was angry, They may not come into my rest: though the works were done from the time of the making of the world.

For in one place he has said of the seventh day, And God had rest from all his works on the seventh day;

For the man who comes into his rest has had rest from his works, as God did from his.

Every high priest who is taken from among men is given his position to take care of the interests of men in those things which have to do with God, so that he may make offerings for sins.

He is able to have feeling for those who have no knowledge and for those who are wandering from the true way, because he himself is feeble;

Who in the days of his flesh, having sent up prayers and requests with strong crying and weeping to him who was able to give him salvation from death, had his prayer answered because of his fear of God.

For this reason let us go on from the first things about Christ to full growth; not building again that on which it is based, that is, the turning of the heart from dead works, and faith in God,

As for those who at one time saw the light, tasting the good things from heaven, and having their part in the Holy Spirit,

For a land, drinking in the frequent rain and producing good plants for those for whom it is worked, has a blessing from God:

For God is true, and will not put away from him the memory of your work and of your love for his name, in the help which you gave and still give to the saints.

So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false;

And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham.

But this man, who was not of their family, took the tenth from Abraham, and gave a blessing to him to whom God had given his undertaking.

But there is no doubt that the less gets his blessing from the greater.

Because it is clear that our Lord comes out of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe.

Being servants of that which is a copy and an image of the things in heaven, as Moses, when he was about to make the Tent, had special orders from God: for, See, he said, that you make everything like the design which you saw in the mountain.

For if the blood of goats and oxen, and the dust from the burning of a young cow, being put on the unclean, make the flesh clean:

How much more will the blood of Christ, who, being without sin, made an offering of himself to God through the Holy Spirit, make your hearts clean from dead works to be servants of the living God?

For then he would have undergone a number of deaths from the time of the making of the world: but now he has come to us at the end of the old order, to put away sin by the offering of himself.

And has been waiting there from that time, till all who are against him are made a foot-rest for his feet.

Let us go in with true hearts, in certain faith, having our hearts made free from the sense of sin and our bodies washed with clean water:

By faith it is clear to us that the order of events was fixed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made from things which only seem to be.

So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered.

And truly if they had kept in mind the country from which they went out, they would have had chances of turning back.

Of whom it had been said, From Isaac will your seed take their name:

Judging that God was able to give life even to the dead; and because of this he did get him back as if from death.

By faith he went out of Egypt, not being turned from his purpose by fear of the wrath of the king; for he kept on his way, as seeing him who is unseen.

Put out the power of fire, got safely away from the edge of the sword, were made strong when they had been feeble, became full of power in war, and put to flight the armies of the nations.

It is for your training that you undergo these things; God is acting to you as a father does to his sons; for what son does not have punishment from his father?

At the time all punishment seems to be pain and not joy: but after, those who have been trained by it get from it the peace-giving fruit of righteousness.

See that you give ear to his voice which comes to you. For if those whose ears were shut to the voice which came to them on earth did not go free from punishment, what chance have we of going free if we give no attention to him whose voice comes from heaven?

Be free from the love of money and pleased with the things which you have; for he himself has said, I will be with you at all times.

We have an altar from which those priests who are servants in the Tent may not take food.

Make prayers for us, for we are certain that our hearts are free from the sense of sin, desiring the right way of life in all things.

Now may the God of peace, who made that great keeper of his flock, even our Lord Jesus, come back from the dead through the blood of the eternal agreement,

Give words of love from me to those who are rulers over you, and to all the saints. Those who are in Italy send you their love.

Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord;

Do not be turned from the right way, dear brothers.

Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning.

The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.

And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.

Does the fountain send from the same outlet sweet and bitter water?

Is a fig-tree able to give us olives, my brothers, or do we get figs from a vine, or sweet water from the salt sea?

This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One.

But the wisdom which is from heaven is first holy, then gentle, readily giving way in argument, full of peace and mercy and good works, not doubting, not seeming other than it is.

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.

See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies.

Be certain that he through whom a sinner has been turned from the error of his way, keeps a soul from death and is the cause of forgiveness for sins without number.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through his great mercy has given us a new birth and a living hope by the coming again of Jesus Christ from the dead,

And it was made clear to those prophets that they were God's servants not for themselves but for you, to give you word of the things which have now come to your ears from the preachers of the good news through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; things which even angels have a desire to see.

Being conscious that you have been made free from that foolish way of life which was your heritage from your fathers, not through a payment of things like silver or gold which come to destruction,

Who through him have faith in God who took him up again from the dead into glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.

And as you have made your souls clean, being ruled by what is true, and loving one another without deceit, see that your love is warm and from the heart:

Because you have had a new birth, not from the seed of man, but from eternal seed, through the word of a living and unchanging God.

My loved ones, I make this request with all my heart, that, as those for whom this world is a strange country, you will keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh which make war against the soul;

Servants, take orders from your masters with all respect; not only if they are good and gentle, but even if they are bad-humoured.

To sharp words he gave no sharp answer; when he was undergoing pain, no angry word came from his lips; but he put himself into the hands of the judge of righteousness:

And you husbands, give thought to your way of life with your wives, giving honour to the woman who is the feebler vessel, but who has an equal part in the heritage of the grace of life; so that you may not be kept from prayer.

For it is said, Let the man who has a love of life, desiring to see good days, keep his tongue from evil and his lips from words of deceit:

And let him be turned from evil and do good; searching for peace and going after it with all his heart.

And baptism, of which this is an image, now gives you salvation, not by washing clean the flesh, but by making you free from the sense of sin before God, through the coming again of Jesus Christ from the dead;

And through this he has given us the hope of great rewards highly to be valued; so that by them we might have our part in God's being, and be made free from the destruction which is in the world through the desires of the flesh.

For the man who has not these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having no memory of how he was made clean from his old sins.

And this voice came from heaven even to our ears, when we were with him on the holy mountain.

For these words did not ever come through the impulse of men: but the prophets had them from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.

(Because the soul of that upright man living among them was pained from day to day by seeing and hearing their crimes):

For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error;

For if, after they have got free from the unclean things of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again taken in the net and overcome, their last condition is worse than their first.