Luke, our well-loved medical friend, and Demas, send you their love.

Give my love to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nymphas and the church in their house.

And for this cause we still give praise to God, that, when the word came to your ears through us, you took it, not as the word of man, but, as it truly is, the word of God, which has living power in you who have faith.

Who, to make the measure of their sins complete, kept us from giving the word of salvation to the Gentiles: but the wrath of God is about to come on them in the fullest degree.

Because you have in mind the orders we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

But about loving the brothers, there is no need for me to say anything to you in this letter: for you have the teaching of God that love for one another is right and necessary;

But about the times and their order, my brothers, there is no need for me to say anything to you.

When they say, There is peace and no danger, then sudden destruction will come on them, as birth-pains on a woman with child; and they will not be able to get away from it.

For God's purpose for us is not wrath, but salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

And have a high opinion of them in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

So that we ourselves take pride in you in the churches of God for your untroubled mind and your faith in all the troubles and sorrows which you are going through;

For it is an act of righteousness on God's part to give trouble as their reward to those who are troubling you,

So that glory may be given to the name of our Lord Jesus through you, and you may have glory in him, by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Give no belief to false words: because there will first be a falling away from the faith, and the revelation of the man of sin, the son of destruction,

For the secret of evil is even now at work: but there is one who is keeping back the evil till he is taken out of the way.

And for this cause, God will give them up to the power of deceit and they will put their faith in what is false:

And in this purpose he gave you a part through the good news of which we were the preachers, even that you might have part in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who had love for us and has given us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,

For the rest, my brothers, let there be prayer for us that the word of the Lord may go forward with increasing glory, even as it does with you;

For it has come to our ears that there are some among you whose behaviour is uncontrolled, who do no work at all, but are over-interested in the business of others.

Now to such we give orders and make request in the Lord Jesus, that, working quietly, they get their living.

With the knowledge that the law is made, not for the upright man, but for those who have no respect for law and order, for evil men and sinners, for the unholy and those who have no religion, for those who put their fathers or mothers to death, for takers of life,

It is a true saying, in which all may put their faith, that Christ Jesus came into the world to give salvation to sinners, of whom I am the chief:

For there is one God and one peacemaker between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Not one newly taken into the church, for fear that, through his high opinion of himself, he may come into the same sin as the Evil One.

Deacons, in the same way, are to be serious in their behaviour, not false in word, not given to taking much wine or greatly desiring the wealth of this world;

And let these first be put to the test; then let them become Deacons if there is nothing against them.

Let Deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their houses well.

But the Spirit says clearly that in later times some will be turned away from the faith, giving their minds to spirits of deceit, and the teachings of evil spirits,

Through the false ways of men whose words are untrue, whose hearts are burned as with a heated iron;

This is a true saying, in which all may put their faith.

Make use of that grace in you, which was given to you by the word of the prophets, when the rulers of the church put their hands on you.

But if any widow has children or children's children, let these see that it is right to take care of their family and their fathers and mothers: for this is pleasing in the eyes of God.

But to the younger widows say No: for when their love is turned away from Christ, they have a desire to be married;

And they are judged because they have been false to their first faith;

So it is my desire that the younger widows may be married and have children, controlling their families, and giving the Evil One no chance to say anything against them,

Do not take as true any statement made against one in authority, but only if two or three give witness to it.

The sins of some men are clearly seen, going before them to be judged; but with others, their sins go after them.

In the same way, there are good works which are clearly seen; and those which are not so, may not be kept secret.

Let all who are servants under the yoke give all honour to their masters, so that no evil may be said against the name of God and his teaching.

But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction.

Give orders to those who have money and goods in this life, not to be lifted up in their minds, or to put their hope in the uncertain chances of wealth, but in God who gives us in full measure all things for our use;

Through which some, who gave their minds to it, have been turned away from the faith. Grace be with you.

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.

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.

And their words will be like poisoned wounds in the flesh: such are Hymenaeus and Philetus;

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but others of wood and earth, and some which are honoured and some without honour.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, uplifted in pride, given to bitter words, going against the authority of their fathers, never giving praise, having no religion,

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

Having a form of religion, but turning their backs on the power of it: go not with these.

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,

But they will go no farther: for their foolish behaviour will be clear to all men, as theirs was in the end.

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.

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;

And shutting their ears to what is true, will be turned away to belief in foolish stories.

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.

But the Lord was by my side and gave me strength; so that through me the news might be given out in full measure, and all the Gentiles might give ear: and I was taken out of the mouth of the lion.

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;

For there are men who are not ruled by law; foolish talkers, false teachers, specially those of the circumcision,

One of their prophets has said, The men of Crete are ever false, evil beasts, lovers of food, hating work.

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.

Training the younger women to have love for their husbands and children,

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.

Servants are to be under the authority of their masters, pleasing them in all things, without argument;

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.

Not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but in the measure of his mercy, he gave us salvation, through the washing of the new birth and the giving of new life in the Holy Spirit,

Which he gave us freely through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

So that, having been given righteousness through grace, we might have a part in the heritage, the hope of eternal life.

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis: for it is my purpose to be there for the winter.

Send Zenas, the man of law, and Apollos on their journey with all care, so that they may be in need of nothing.

All who are with me send you their love. Give our love to our friends in the faith. Grace be with you all.

For I had great joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been made strong again through you, brother.

And make a room ready for me; for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be given to you.

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

But now, at the end of these days, it has come to us through his Son, to whom he has given all things for a heritage, and through whom he made the order of the generations;

They will come to their end; but you are for ever; they will become old as a robe;

For this reason there is the more need for us to give attention to the things which have come to our ears, for fear that by chance we might be slipping away.

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;

What will come on us, if we do not give our minds to such a great salvation? a salvation of which our fathers first had knowledge through the words of the Lord, and which was made certain to us by those to whom his words came;

Because it was right for him, for whom and through whom all things have being, in guiding his sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation complete through pain.

And let those who all their lives were in chains because of their fear of death, go free.

So that I was angry with this generation, and I said, Their hearts are in error at all times, and they have no knowledge of my ways;

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:

And with whom was he angry for forty years? was it not with those who did evil, who came to their deaths in the waste land?

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

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.

And there is nothing made which is not completely clear to him; there is nothing covered, but all things are open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

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.

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;

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

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.

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,

For men at all times make their oaths by what is greater; and any argument is ended by the decision of the oath.

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.

Now if it was possible for things to be made complete through the priests of the house of Levi (for the law was given to the people in connection with them), what need was there for another priest who was of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?