Have no feeling of shame, then, for the witness of our Lord or for me, his prisoner: but undergo all things for the good news in the measure of the power of God;

But has now been made clear by the revelation of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who put an end to death and made life unending come to light through the good news,

That good thing which was given to you keep safe, through the Holy Spirit which is in us.

And if a man takes part in a competition he does not get the crown if he has not kept the rules.

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

In which I put up with the hardest conditions, even prison chains, like one who has done a crime; but the word of God is not in chains.

Let it be your care to get the approval of God, as a workman who has no cause for shame, giving the true word in the right way.

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.

Gently guiding those who go against the teaching; if by chance God may give them a change of heart and true knowledge,

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.

Without natural love, bitter haters, saying evil of others, violent and uncontrolled, hating all good,

False to their friends, acting without thought, lifted up in mind, loving pleasure more than God;

But you took as your example my teaching, behaviour, purpose, and faith; my long waiting, my love, my quiet undergoing of trouble;

Yes, and all whose purpose is to be living in the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, will be cruelly attacked.

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

So that the man of God may be complete, trained and made ready for every good work.

I give you orders, before God and Christ Jesus, who will be the judge of the living and the dead, and by his revelation and his kingdom;

For the time will come when they will not take the true teaching; but, moved by their desires, they will get for themselves a great number of teachers for the pleasure of hearing them;

But be self-controlled in all things, do without comfort, go on preaching the good news, completing the work which has been given you to do.

I have made a good fight, I have come to the end of my journey, I have kept the faith:

Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and take him with you; for he is of use to me in the work.

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

Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, in agreement with the faith of the saints of God and the full knowledge of what is true in harmony with religion,

In the hope of eternal life, which was made certain before eternal time, by the word of God who is ever true;

Who, in his time, made clear his word in the good news, of which, by the order of God our Saviour, I became a preacher;

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

Men having a good record, husbands of one wife, whose children are of the faith, children of whom it may not be said that they are given to loose living or are uncontrolled.

For it is necessary for a Bishop to be a man of virtue, as God's servant; not pushing himself forward, not quickly moved to wrath or blows, not desiring profit for himself;

But opening his house freely to guests; a lover of what is good, serious-minded, upright, holy, self-controlled;

They say that they have knowledge of God, while by their acts they are turning their backs on him; they are hated by all, hard-hearted, and judged to be without value for any good work.

That old men are to be simple in their tastes, serious, wise, true in faith, in love, and of a quiet mind.

That old women are to be self-respecting in behaviour, not saying evil of others, not given to taking much wine, teachers of that which is good,

To be wise in mind, clean in heart, kind; working in their houses, living under the authority of their husbands; so that no evil may be said of the word of God.

In all things see that you are an example of good works; holy in your teaching, serious in behaviour,

Not taking what is not theirs, but giving clear signs of their good faith, in all things doing credit to the teaching of God our Saviour.

For the grace of God has come, giving salvation to all men,

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;

Looking for the glad hope, the revelation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ;

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.

Make clear to them that they are to put themselves under rulers and authorities, to do what they are ordered, to be ready for every good work,

But when the mercy of God our Saviour, and his love to man was seen,

This is a true saying; and it is my desire that you may give certain witness about these things, so that those who have had faith in God may give attention to good works. These things are good and of profit to men;

And let our people go on with good works for necessary purposes, so that they may not be without fruit.

And to Apphia, our sister, and to Archippus, our brother in God's army, and to the church in your house:

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

I give praise to God at all times and make prayer for you,

That the faith which you have in common with them may be working with power, in the knowledge of every good thing in you, for Christ.

Though my desire was to keep him with me, to be my servant in the chains of the good news, in your place:

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

In times past the word of God came to our fathers through the prophets, in different parts and in different ways;

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;

To which of the angels did God say at any time, You are my Son, this day I have given you being? or, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son?

And again, when he is sending his only Son into the world, he says, Let all the angels of God give him worship.

But of the Son he says, Your seat of power, O God, is for ever and ever; and the rod of your kingdom is a rod of righteousness.

You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil; and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head more than on the heads of those who are with you.

Because if the word which came through the angels was fixed, and in the past every evil act against God's orders was given its full punishment;

And God was a witness with them, by signs and wonders, and by more than natural powers, and by his distribution of the Holy Spirit at his pleasure.

You put all things under his feet. For in making man the ruler over all things, God did not put anything outside his authority; though we do not see everything under him now.

But we see him who was made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, crowned with glory and honour, because he let himself be put to death so that by the grace of God he might undergo death for all men.

And again he says, I will put my faith in him. And again, See, I am here, and the children which God has given to me.

Because of this it was necessary for him to be made like his brothers in every way, so that he might be a high priest full of mercy and keeping faith in everything to do with God, making offerings for the sins of the people.

Who kept faith with God who gave him his place, even as Moses did in all his house.

For every house has a builder; but the builder of all things is God.

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:

Let us then, though we still have God's word that we may come into his rest, go in fear that some of you may be unable to do so.

And, truly, the good news came to us, even as it did to them; but the hearing of the word did them no good, because they were not united in faith with the true hearers.

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

So that as it is clear that some have to go in, and that the first hearers of the good news were not able to go in because they went against God's orders,

So that there is still a Sabbath-keeping for the people of God.

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

Because of this, let us have a strong desire to come into that rest, and let no one go after the example of those who went against God's orders.

For the word of God is living and full of power, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through and making a division even of the soul and the spirit, the bones and the muscles, and quick to see the thoughts and purposes of the heart.

Having then a great high priest, who has made his way through the heavens, even Jesus the Son of God, let us be strong in our faith.

Then let us come near to the seat of grace without fear, so that mercy may be given to us, and we may get grace for our help in time of need.

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.

And no man who is not given authority by God, as Aaron was, takes this honour for himself.

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.

And though he was a Son, through the pain which he underwent, the knowledge came to him of what it was to be under God's orders;

Being named by God a high priest of the order of Melchizedek.

And though by this time it would be right for you to be teachers, you still have need of someone to give you teaching about the first simple rules of God's revelation; you have become like babies who have need of milk, and not of solid food.

But solid food is for men of full growth, even for those whose senses are trained by use to see what is good and what is evil.

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,

Now we will do this, if God lets us.

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

With knowledge of the good word of God, and of the powers of the coming time,

And then let themselves be turned away, it is not possible for their hearts to be made new a second time; because they themselves put the Son of God on the cross again, openly shaming him.

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 you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting.

For when God made his oath to Abraham, because there was no greater oath, he made it by himself,

And so, when he had been waiting calmly for a long time, God's word to him was put into effect.

So that when it was God's desire to make it specially clear to those who by his word were to have the heritage, that his purpose was fixed, he made it more certain with an oath;

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;

For this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who gave Abraham his blessing, meeting him when he came back after putting the kings to death,

Being without father or mother, or family, having no birth or end to his life, being made like the Son of God, is a priest for ever.

Now see how great this man was, to whom our father Abraham gave a tenth part of what he had got in the fight.

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.

(Because the law made nothing complete), and in its place there is a better hope, through which we come near to God.

So that he is fully able to be the saviour of all who come to God through him, because he is ever living to make prayer to God for them.