Now the Spirit distinctly declares that in latter days there will be some who will fall away from the faith, by listening to spirits of error, and to teachings of demons

by the hypocrisy of liars, who are seared in their own conscience,

who forbid people to marry and teach them to abstain from certain sorts of food which God created for the grateful enjoyment of those who have faith and a clear knowledge of the truth.

To this end we are toiling and struggling, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers.

Let no one look down on you because you are young, but set those who believe an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

Make it your habit to pay close attention to yourself and your teaching. Persevere in these things, for if you do you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.

Do not say sharp words to one who has authority in the church, but let your talk be as to a father, and to the younger men as to brothers:

Always care for widows who are really dependent.

If a widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety in the treatment of their own families, and to return the care of those who brought them up, for that is what God approves.

But a woman who is really a widow and lives alone has fixed her hope on God, and night and day devotes herself to prayers and entreaties,

while a widow who gives herself up to luxury is really dead though still alive.

If anyone has no care for his family and those in his house, he is false to the faith, and is worse than one who has no faith.

Let no woman be numbered among the widows who is under sixty years old, and only if she has been the wife of one man,

being testified in good works: if she has reared children, if she has been hospitable to strangers, if she has washed the feet of the sanctified, if she has relieved those who are afflicted, if she has followed every good work.

Thus, they bring the judgment [for being untrustworthy] on themselves because they have broken their previous pledge. [Note: This probably refers to younger widows who pledged themselves to fulfill some important church activity and then quit suddenly to get married. But some suggest it refers to them leaving the faith and marrying a non-Christian].

I desire therefore the younger women to marry, to bear children, to manage house, to give not one occasion to him who opposes on account of slander.

There are some who have already left us, to follow Satan.

If a Christian woman has widowed relatives, she should help them, and let the church be free from the burden, so that it can help the widows who are really dependent.

Elders who do their duties well should be considered as deserving twice the salary they get especially those who keep on toiling in preaching and teaching.

Those who are guilty reprove in public, so that others may be warned.

Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and those who are otherwise cannot be hidden.

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.

Anyone who teaches different views and does not agree with the wholesome instruction which comes from our Lord Jesus Christ, and with religious teaching

and perpetual friction between people who are depraved in mind and deprived of truth, who imagine that religion is only a means of gain.

we ought to think that sufficient. but they who will be rich, expose

But men who keep planning to get rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish, hurtful desires which plunge people into destruction and ruin.

For, loving money is a source of all kinds of evil, [and] some people who crave it have been led astray from the faith, and have stabbed themselves [in the heart] with many sorrows.

Before God who preserves the life of all His creatures and before Christ Jesus who in testifying before Pontius Pilate made His good profession, I solemnly charge you

which he will show in his own times, the blessed and only Potentate, the King of those who are kings, and Lord of those who are lords,

who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

Continue charging the rich of this world to stop being haughty and not to fix their hope on a thing so uncertain as riches, but on God who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment;

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

To Timothy, my dear Child, from Paul who, by the will of God, is an Apostle of Christ Jesus, charged to proclaim the Life that comes from union with Christ Jesus. May God, the Father, and Christ Jesus, our Lord, bless you, and be merciful to you, and give you peace.

I thank God, whom I worship, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as I ceaselessly remember you in my prayers. Because I remember the tears you shed for me, I am always longing night and day

be not therefore asham'd of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me who am a prisoner upon his account. but share with me in the afflictions, which attend the gospel, supported as you are by the power of God,

Who saved us and who called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal.

but has only recently been made known through the appearance of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who through the good news has put a stop to the power of death, and brought life and immortality to light.

This is why I am suffering so, but I am not ashamed of it, for I know whom I have trusted and I am absolutely sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Guard this fine deposit of truth by the aid of the Holy Spirit who has His home in our hearts.

You know that everyone here who belongs to the Roman province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

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

Join the ranks of those who bear suffering, like a loyal soldier of Christ Jesus.

No soldier ever allows himself to be involved in the business affairs of life, so that he may please the officer who enlisted him.

No one who competes in the games is awarded a crown unless he obeys the rules.

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

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.

For that reason I am ready to submit to anything for the sake of those whom God has chosen, so that they too may gain the salvation that comes through Christ Jesus and brings eternal glory.

Enduring, we with him will reign. Who him denies, he will disclaim.

Our faith may fail, his never wanes That's who he is, he cannot change!

Keep on reminding men of these things. Solemnly charge them before God to stop petty debating, which does no good at all but brings destruction on those who hear it.

Do your best to present yourself to God an approved workman who has nothing to be ashamed of, who properly presents the message of truth.

But take no part in wrong and foolish talk, for those who do so will go farther into evil,

and their word will have a feeding field like gangrene, of whom are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

who have missed the truth by saying that the resurrection has already taken place, are undermining some people's faith.

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."

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things [which are dishonorable—disobedient, sinful], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified [set apart for a special purpose and], useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

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 the Lord's servant must not be a man of strife; he must be kind to everybody, a skilled teacher, a man who will not resent injuries;

in mildness correcting those who oppose. Perhaps God may grant them repentance for recognition of the truth,

And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

without natural affection, implacable, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, not lovers of those who are good,

For some of them practice going into people's houses and capturing weak and silly women who are overwhelmed with the weight of their sins, who are easily led about by all sorts of evil impulses,

who are always trying to learn but never able to come to a full knowledge of the truth.

And as James and Jambres went against Moses, so do these go against what is true: men of evil minds, who, tested by faith, are seen to be false.

Yes, indeed, everyone who wants to live a godly life as a follower of Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

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

I solemnly charge you, before God and Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom,

For a time will come when they will not listen to wholesome teaching, but to gratify their own evil desires will surround themselves with teachers who teach to gratify their own evil desires, because their ears are itching so to be tickled,

Now the crown for doing right awaits me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not only me but also all who have loved His appearing.

Luke is the only one who is now with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is of great service to me,

of whom thou also beware, for he extremely opposed our words.

And the Lord will rescue me from every evil work, and will save me for his heavenly kingdom, to whom is the glory into the ages of the ages. Truly.

Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to arouse faith in those whom God has chosen, and the comprehension of religious truth,

in the hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago

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;

[It is being sent] to Titus, my true son, [who shares] in a common faith. [May you have] unearned favor and peace [which come] from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

I left you behind in Crete expressly to correct what defects there were, and to appoint elders in each town, as I directed you??6 men of irreproachable character, who have been married only once, whose children are Christians, free from any suspicion of profligacy or disobedience.

men who are blameless, the husband of one wife, with believing children who are not accused of riot or insubordination.

For the bishop must be blame less, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not passionate, not fond of wine, not quarrelsome, not one who makes money by base means;

[He must be] hospitable, someone who loves what is good, sensible, upright, devout and self-controlled.

and a man who continues to cling to the trustworthy message as he was taught it, so that he may be competent to encourage others with wholesome teaching and to convict those who oppose him.

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

who must be muzzled, men who subvert whole houses, teaching things that they ought not, for sake of ugly profit.

It was a Cretan, a prophet of their own, who said, "Cretans are always liars, savage brutes, lazy gluttons,"

by ceasing to give attention to Jewish myths and to the commands of men who turn their backs on the truth.

Truly to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.

that the elder women in like manner be in deportment as becoming those who have to say to sacred things, not slanderers, not enslaved to much wine, teachers of what is right;

Saying true and right words, against which no protest may be made, so that he who is not on our side may be put to shame, unable to say any evil of us.

For the grace of God who saves, was manifested to all men,

who gave Himself for us to ransom us from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people to be His very own, zealous of good works.

Constantly remind people to submit to and obey the rulers who have authority over them, so as to be ready for any good enterprise,

whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

It is a message to be trusted, and I want you to be emphatic about these things, so that those who believe in God may be careful to take the lead in doing good. These things are right and render service to mankind.

After one or two warnings to a man who is factious, stop having anything to do with him,

having known that he hath been subverted who is such, and doth sin, being self-condemned.

And let those who belong to us learn also to be pre-eminent in good works for all necessary calls, that they be not without fruits.

All who are with me wish to be remembered to you. Remember me to all who love me as Christians. Spiritual blessing be with you all.

For I have had great joy and comfort and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints (God’s people) have been refreshed through you, my brother.