2 Timothy

¹ From: Paul, an emissary of Christ Jesus through God’s intention, based on the promise of the life that’s in connection with Christ Jesus

² To: Timothy, beloved child.

Generosity, committed compassion, and peace from Father God and Christ Jesus our lord.

³ I am grateful to God, for whom I perform representative service, passed from those who came before me, with a clean conscientiousness, as I constantly remember you in my requests night and day, ⁴ having remembered your tears and longing to see you, so that I can be filled with joy. ⁵ I have been reminded of the unfeigned faithfulness that is yours—which resided first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice—but I am convinced that it is also within you.

⁶ That’s why I am reminding you to stoke the fire of God’s gift that is yours through placing my hands on you. ⁷ You see, God did not give us a spirit-breath of cowardice but of power and love and self-discipline. ⁸ Therefore, don’t be ashamed of the report of our lord or me, since I am a prisoner for him, but share in suffering hardship for the triumphant message, grounded in the power of God, ⁹ the one who liberated us and called us with a sacred calling not based on our actions but based on God’s own presentation and generosity, given to us by means of Christ Jesus in ages long past. ¹⁰ Now that calling has been made clearly visible through the clear visibility of our liberator Christ Jesus, who both counteracted death and also shined life and immortality through the triumphant message, ¹¹ for which I was appointed announcer and emissary and teacher, ¹² which is why I also suffer these things. However, I am not ashamed because I know whom I have trusted and have been convinced that he is able to watch over what has been entrusted to me as collateral for that day. ¹³ Hold onto the example of healthy words that you heard from me with the faithfulness and love that are connected with Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Keep watch over the promising collateral entrusted to you through the sacred Life-breath who resides among us.

¹⁵ You already know that everyone in the province of Asia turned away from me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶ May the Lord show committed compassion to the household of Onesiphorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my imprisonment, ¹⁷ but rather, after coming to be in Rome, he diligently searched for me and found me. ¹⁸ May the Lord allow him to find committed compassion from the Lord for that day! You also know quite well all the ways he served me in Ephesus.

¹ Therefore, you, my child, be empowered by the generosity that is connected with Christ Jesus, ² and present the things you heard from me among many witnesses to faithful people who will be capable of teaching others as well. ³ Share in suffering hardship like an honorable soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No soldier on active duty gets enmeshed in the practicalities of life, so they can focus on pleasing the one who recruited them. ⁵ As another analogy, if someone competes as an athlete, they will not be awarded the laurel wreath if they compete without following the instructions. ⁶ It’s right for the farm worker who labors over them to be the first to receive a share of the crops. ⁷ Think over what I am saying, and the Lord will teach you to put it all together.

⁸ Keep in mind Jesus Christ, raised from among the dead, who is from the seed of David, which corresponds to my triumphant message. ⁹ It is in connection with this that I suffer hardship to the point of imprisonment as a criminal; however, God’s message is not imprisoned. ¹⁰ That’s why I endure everything for the sake of the chosen ones, so they can also hit the target of the liberation that is connected with Christ Jesus with agelong expectation. ¹¹ This is a trustworthy saying:

You see, if we died together, we will also be alive together.

¹²⁠If we endure, we will also reign together.

If we refuse, he will also refuse us.

¹³⁠If we are unfaithful, he stays faithful,

Because he’s unable to refuse himself.

¹⁴ Keep these things in mind, having been provided with evidence in the Lord’s presence not to fight over ideas—a benefit to no one—resulting in the demise of those who listen. ¹⁵ Be diligent in presenting yourself to God as genuine, a worker with no cause for shame, staying in alignment with the conversation of the truth. ¹⁶ Avoid conventional, empty voices because they will push forward into more and more disrespectfulness, ¹⁷ and their conversation will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of that group. ¹⁸ They diverged from the truth, saying the Reawakening has already happened and putting an end to some people’s faithfulness. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation continues intact, having this sign: “The Lord knows those who are the Lord's,” and “Everyone who openly acknowledges the name of the Lord should separate themselves from injustice.”

²⁰ In a grand house, there are not only gold and silver containers but also wood and clay ones, and some are for valuable contents while others are for worthless contents. ²¹ Therefore, if someone cleanses themselves out from these things, they will be a container for valuable contents, designated for sacred purposes, useful for the owner, and prepared for every helpful action.

²² Out of a clean heart, avoid immature desires, and pursue justness, faithfulness, love, and peace alongside those who call for help from the Lord. ²³ Decline to participate in irresponsible and naïve investigations, having learned that they generate fights. ²⁴ It’s necessary for a worker enslaved to the lord not to fight but to be gentle toward everyone, skilled at teaching, and patient, ²⁵ peaceably rearing up like children those who set themselves in opposition in case God ever brings about the transformation of their mind toward an understanding of the truth. ²⁶ Then, they could come to their senses and out of the trap of the False Accuser, having been captured for his purposes.

¹ Now, understand this: in the last days, there will be hard times. ² You see, people will care only about themselves and about money, being pretentious frauds and arrogant, who speak disrespectfully, who refuse to be persuaded by parents, being ungracious, without regard for what is sacred, ³ heartless, relentless, slanderers, without restraint, cruel, opposed to what benefits others, ⁴ betrayers, reckless, deluded, caring about pleasure more than God, ⁵ and people who go through the motions of respectfulness but disregarding its power. Especially avoid these people. ⁶ You see, from among them are those who creep into the House and take captive vulnerable women who have been piled high with deviations and are being led by various desires, ⁷ always learning and never being able to come to an understanding of the truth. ⁸ Similarly, like Jannes and Jambres competed against Moses, these people compete against the truth in the same way, people whose minds have been corrupted, disingenuous about faithfulness. ⁹ However, they won’t go the distance because their mindlessness will be obvious to everyone, just like also happened for Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰ You, however, have followed my teaching, my way of life, presentation, commitment, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹ persecutions, sufferings, such as what happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, and in Lystra, and the Lord rescued me from all the persecutions like these that I have born. ¹² Everyone who wants to live respectfully to the standard of Christ Jesus will also be persecuted, ¹³ but people who inflict harm and charismatic imposters keep getting worse, misleading and being misled. ¹⁴ But you, stay present to what you learned and with which you were entrusted, knowing the people from whom you learned, ¹⁵ and that from infancy you have known the sacred texts, which are able to make you wise for liberation through the faithfulness that is connected with Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ Every scripture is of the Life-Breath of God and useful for teaching, for investigation, for improvement, for training people like children regarding justness, ¹⁷ so that they may be ready and equipped for every kind action.

¹ I sincerely plead with you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus, who is going to assess the living and the dead, and by his arrival and his reign: ² Announce the message, be ready at convenient and inconvenient moments, expose, appraise, and encourage with teaching and complete patience. ³ You see, there will be a time when they will not uphold healthy teaching but will collect teachers to tickle the ear based on their own desires, ⁴ and they will both turn the ear away from the truth and be turned aside to false narratives. ⁵ But you, be even tempered in everything, endure oppression, do the work of an announcer of the triumphant message, and fully carry out your service.

⁶ I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my relief has approached. ⁷ I have contended honorably in the contest; I have finished the race; I have carefully attended to faithfulness. ⁸ All that’s left for me is the laurel wreath for justness, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his arrival.

⁹ Try to come to me soon ¹⁰ because Demas abandoned me, since he loved this present Age, and he left for Thessalonica, Crescens left for Galatia, and Titus left for Dalmatia. ¹¹ Luke is the only one with me. Get Mark and bring him with you because he is helpful to me as I serve. ¹² I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. ¹³ When you come, bring the cloak I left behind in Troas with Carpas and the scrolls, especially the parchments.

¹⁴ Alexander the coppersmith demonstrated many harmful things toward me—the Lord will repay him based on his actions— ¹⁵ and you watch out for him too because he made a stand against our discussions. ¹⁶ When I first spoke my defense, no one came to be with me; instead, they all abandoned me—may it not be counted against them— ¹⁷ but the Lord stood with me and empowered me, so that through me, the announcement would be carried out fully and all people groups would hear it, and I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. ¹⁸ The Lord will rescue me from every harmful action and liberate me for his divine reign. Praise be to him for ages upon ages! Amen.

¹⁹ Wish Prisca and Aquilla and the household of Onesiphorus well. ²⁰ Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. ²¹ Try to come before winter. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the Family wish you well. ²² May the Lord be with your life-breath. May good fortune be with all of you.