Reinforce these commands, so that they will be beyond reproach.

and so incur judgment for breaking their former pledge.

So I want younger women to marry, raise children, and manage a household, in order to give the adversary no opportunity to vilify us.

If a believing woman has widows in her family, let her help them. The church should not be burdened, so that it may help the widows who are truly in need.

Do not lay hands on anyone hastily and so identify with the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.

He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.

Command those who are rich in this world's goods not to be haughty or to set their hope on riches, which are uncertain, but on God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment.

In this way they will save up a treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the future and so lay hold of what is truly life.

O Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and absurdities of so-called "knowledge."

As I remember your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.

Because of this I remind you to rekindle God's gift that you possess through the laying on of my hands.

So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by God's power accept your share of suffering for the gospel.

Hold to the standard of sound words that you heard from me and do so with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

So you, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And entrust what you heard me say in the presence of many others as witnesses to faithful people who will be competent to teach others as well.

for which I suffer hardship to the point of imprisonment as a criminal, but God's message is not imprisoned!

So I endure all things for the sake of those chosen by God, that they too may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus and its eternal glory.

They have strayed from the truth by saying that the resurrection has already occurred, and they are undermining some people's faith.

However, God's solid foundation remains standing, bearing this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from evil."

So if someone cleanses himself of such behavior, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart, useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

And the Lord's slave must not engage in heated disputes but be kind toward all, an apt teacher, patient,

and they will come to their senses and escape the devil's trap where they are held captive to do his will.

They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these.

And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these people -- who have warped minds and are disqualified in the faith -- also oppose the truth.

You, however, be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist's work, fulfill your ministry.

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed for all the Gentiles to hear. And so I was delivered from the lion's mouth!

From Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God's chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness,

For the overseer must be blameless as one entrusted with God's work, not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain.

He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught, so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching and correct those who speak against it.

to be self-controlled, pure, fulfilling their duties at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the message of God may not be discredited.

and a sound message that cannot be criticized, so that any opponent will be at a loss, because he has nothing evil to say about us.

So communicate these things with the sort of exhortation or rebuke that carries full authority. Don't let anyone look down on you.

And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life."

This saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people.

Here is another way that our people can learn to engage in good works to meet pressing needs and so not be unfruitful.

So, although I have quite a lot of confidence in Christ and could command you to do what is proper,

I wanted to keep him so that he could serve me in your place during my imprisonment for the sake of the gospel.

However, without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your good deed would not be out of compulsion, but from your own willingness.

For perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated from you for a little while, so that you would have him back eternally,

no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a dear brother. He is especially so to me, and even more so to you now, both humanly speaking and in the Lord.

The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my son! Today I have fathered you"? And in another place he says, "I will be his father and he will be my son."

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing."

Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty,

You put all things under his control." For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control,

but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God's grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.

For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil),

For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham's descendants.

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God's house.

Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken.

But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. We are of his house, if in fact we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope we take pride in.

"There your fathers tested me and tried me, and they saw my works for forty years.

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God.

But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called "Today," that none of you may become hardened by sin's deception.

So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my anger, 'They will never enter my rest!'" And yet God's works were accomplished from the foundation of the world.

So God again ordains a certain day, "Today," speaking through David after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, "O, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts."

For the one who enters God's rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works.

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

So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, who said to him, "You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,"

On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing.

For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God's utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food.

For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name, in having served and continuing to serve the saints.

so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises.

And so by persevering, Abraham inherited the promise.

In the same way God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, and so he intervened with an oath,

so that we who have found refuge in him may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

But see how great he must be, if Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe of his plunder.

For he was still in his ancestor Abraham's loins when Melchizedek met him.

So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood -- for on that basis the people received the law -- what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron's order?

but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever'" --

So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one too had to have something to offer.

The place where they serve is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, "See that you make everything according to the design shown to you on the mountain."

It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

So with these things prepared like this, the priests enter continually into the outer tent as they perform their duties.

and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption.

And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.

So even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.

So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these.

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands -- the representation of the true sanctuary -- but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God's presence for us.

so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.

For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin?

So when he came into the world, he said, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.

not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near.

but only a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God's enemies.

So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward.

For you need endurance in order to do God's will and so receive what is promised.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.

For by it the people of old received God's commendation.

By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God's command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God.

So in fact children were fathered by one man -- and this one as good as dead -- like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand on the seashore.

These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.

By faith, when Moses was born, his parents hid him for three months, because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict.