2001 Translation

1

¹Paul, an Apostle of the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa by the will of The God and by the promise of life in the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa, ²to my loved child Timothy:

May you find loving care, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa, our Lord!

³I’m thankful to The God whom I’m worshiping with a clean conscience (as did my forefathers) that I never forget you in my prayers, which I offer [on your behalf] night and day.

⁴For I remember you with tears and I long to see you, so that I can be filled with joy.

⁵I fondly remember the unhypocritical faith that your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice had first, and I’m confident that you have this also. ⁶So, this is the reason why I’m reminding you to rekindle the gift of God that you received when I first laid my hands on you.

⁷Since God didn’t give us a spirit of fear (but of power, love, and good sense), ⁸don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me – a prisoner for his sake!

So, come and share with us in suffering evil for the good news with the power of God.

⁹For He didn’t save us or call us to holiness because of anything that we’ve done, but because it’s been His will throughout the ages to show us His loving kindness, through JesusYeshuaIshoa the Anointed One.

¹⁰And all of this has now appeared via the arrival of our Savior, the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa, who has done away with death – and is shining a light on life and freedom from corruption through this good news ¹¹(of which I was appointed a preacher, an Apostle, and a teacher).

¹²Yes, this is the reason why I’ve been suffering these things and why I’m unashamed… Because I really know this one in whom I’ve put my faith, and I’m confident that he’ll guard everything I’ve entrusted to him until that Day.

¹³Likewise, you should be hanging onto the healthy words that you heard from me and which I laid out for you (through the love that’s in the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa). ¹⁴You should be guarding these things that you’ve been given through [this] Holy breath that dwells within us!

¹⁵I’m sure that you’re aware of the fact that everyone in the [province of] Asia have turned their backs on me, and especially PhyGelus and HermoGenes…

¹⁶But may the Lord’s mercy rest upon the household of OnesiPhorus, because he’s often brought me refreshment and he’s never been ashamed of my chains. ¹⁷For when he came to Rome, he diligently started searching for me and quickly found me! ¹⁸So, may he find mercy with the Lord on that Day. And you know very well how much he served me in Ephesus, too.

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¹However, as for you my child,

Keep growing stronger in the loving care of the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa, ²and keep on teaching the things that you heard from so many witnesses while you were with me, to faithful men who are qualified to teach others.

³Then, as a fine soldier of the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa, [be prepared to] endure hardships!

⁴For no soldier can just go on living his life as he once did, since he wants to please the one who enlisted him. ⁵And the same is true of an athlete… He can’t win the prize unless he plays by the rules! ⁶Yet, the hardworking field-hand must also be the first one to taste the fruit.

⁷If you’ll visualize what I’m saying, the Lord will truly give you insight into everything.

⁸Remember that the good news I’ve been preaching teaches us that JesusYeshuaIshoa the Anointed (the offspring of David) was raised from the dead… ⁹And it’s over this that I’m being persecuted and imprisoned like a criminal.

However, the word of God hasn’t been locked up with me!

¹⁰I’m putting up with all of this for the sake of the elected ones… So they can gain the salvation that comes from being in the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa and receiving age-long glory.

¹¹For you can believe the saying:

‘If we die together,
We’ll also live together;
¹²And if we hang on together,
We’ll also rule as kings together!’

However, if we deny this, he’ll also deny us.

¹³Even if we stop believing in him, he’ll still believe, [won’t he?] Because he can [hardly] deny his own existence!

¹⁴I want you to keep on reminding [the brothers] about these things, and I want you to instruct them –in the sight of God– not to be arguing over words, for this is just a waste of time and it’s a snare to those who listen to it.

¹⁵As for you:

Keep on seeking God’s approval zealously, so you’re accepted by Him as a workman who has nothing to be ashamed of, and who lays out the truth straightforwardly.

¹⁶Therefore, you should avoid speaking about worldly and foolish topics, because this leads [people] away from pure worship, ¹⁷and whatever is said [spreads like] a field of gangrene!

That’s what happened to Hymenaeus and PhileTos – ¹⁸they got away from the truth and started teaching that the resurrection has already happened, which misdirected the faith of some.

¹⁹However, you have a solid foundation in God, and it has this seal [of approval], that [Jehovah][Yahweh]“Lord”…

‘…knows who are His.’ [Numbers 16:5 or Nahum 1:7]

And:

‘Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be rescued.’ Joel 2:32, see note]

²⁰Now, in a large house there aren’t just containers made of gold and silver, but also those [made] of wood and pottery… Because some were made for honorable purposes, while others were made for dishonorable purposes.

²¹So if anyone chooses to be clean, he must remove [everything that’s dishonorable] from himself so that he can become a container for an honorable purpose – holy and useful to his master. And from then on, he must be ready to do every sort of good work.

²²So, flee from the desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace… Along with everyone else who is calling on the Lord with a clean heart.

²³However, avoid foolish and ignorant questions, because you know that they just create arguments… ²⁴and a slave of the Lord shouldn’t be arguing.

Instead, we should be gentle with everyone, we should be good teachers, and we should know how to keep our composure in bad [situations] ²⁵so we can teach those who disagree calmly.

[After all,] perhaps God may lead them to repentance and to an accurate knowledge of the truth, ²⁶so that they may escape the Slanderer’s snares and return to their good senses – once they realize how they’ve been lured into his cage!

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¹Understand that hard times will come in the last days, ²and people will just love themselves and money… [They’ll be] braggarts, loud blasphemers, argumentative ([even] with their own people), unthankful, wicked. ³They won’t have any natural (family) love.

[They’ll be] false accusers, addicted to lust, fierce, hating what’s good, ⁴betrayers, impetuous, and proud of [themselves] – yes, lovers of many pleasures, away from the love of God.

⁵Even though they might have some form of Godly fear, they’ll be far away from its power [to change them].

You should reject people like this, ⁶because it’s from among such ones that certain men will arise… Ones who’ll work their way into homes and seduce weak women who are loaded down with sins (because they have so many desires), ⁷and who’ll always just be students who can never come to a higher knowledge of the truth.

⁸So, whenever you must deal with men who are resisting the truth and corrupting their own minds (making themselves worthless when it comes to the faith), follow the example of Moses when he opposed JanNes and JamBres, ⁹so they can’t make any more inroads.

Then (as happened [to JanNes and JamBres]) their unreasonableness will become clear for everyone [to see]!

¹⁰Now… You’ve closely followed my teachings, my directions, my purposes, my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance. ¹¹[However, you’ve also had to share in] my persecution and my sufferings (such as the things that happened to me in AntiOch, Iconium, and Lystra), and you’ve endured the same types of opposition that I’ve had to endure (but from which the Lord has delivered me).

¹²For everybody who wants to worship The God through the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa is going to be persecuted… ¹³Because wicked and deceitful men will just get worse and worse, misleading and being misled!

¹⁴As for you:

Stick with the things that you’ve learned and were convinced to believe… And remember from whom you learned them!

¹⁵For you’ve been familiar with the Holy Writings since you were a child, and they can make you wise for salvation through your faith in the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa. ¹⁶[Remember that] all the Holy Writings were inspired by God and they’re good for teaching, for correcting, for setting things straight, and for providing righteous discipline…

¹⁷They qualify a man of God by providing him with whatever he needs to do all sorts of good work.

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¹So I solemnly charge you in the sight of God and the Anointed JesusYeshuaIshoa (who is going to judge the living and the dead when he manifests himself in his Kingdom) ²to keep on preaching the word!

Keep on doing it through both good times and bad!

Then, as you consider [what you see], you must offer criticism and encouragement. However, you should do this patiently and with all of your teaching skills.

³Yet, the time is coming when they won’t put up with life-giving teachings anymore. Rather (because they will prefer to follow their own desires), they will gather teachers for themselves who’ll tell them whatever they want to hear!

⁴They won’t listen to the truth, but they’ll all show up when it comes to listening to fables.

⁵But as for you:

Be serious about everything, endure all the bad, preach the good news, and completely carry out your ministry!

⁶As for me:

Even though I’ll soon be poured out as a sacrifice, and the time for my undoing is almost here, ⁷I can say that I’ve wrestled the fine match, I’ve finished the race, and I’ve obeyed the faith!

⁸So now he’s keeping a righteous crown for me, which the Lord (the righteous judge) will give me on that day (but not just to me, but to everyone who eagerly looks forward to his appearance).

⁹So hurry… Come to me quickly – ¹⁰because Demas has let me down and gone to ThesSalonica (since he still loves this age), Kreskes has gone to Galatia, Titus has gone to Dalmatia, ¹¹and Luke is the only one who is here with me!

So, go find Mark and bring him with you, because his services are very useful to me.

¹²Oh yes, I also sent Tychikus off to Ephesus.

¹³And when you come here, bring along the robe that I left with Carpus in Troas… And the scrolls, especially the parchments.

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith has testified and said many bad things against me. But the Lord will repay him for what he’s done.

¹⁵So watch out for him!

Because he really opposes everything that we say.

¹⁶Unfortunately, nobody stayed with me during my first court hearing… But despite the fact they all left me, I don’t want this to be held against them, ¹⁷because the Lord stood by me.

Yes, he gave me strength so that the preaching might be completed through me, and that all the gentiles might hear it. As a result, I was saved from the lion’s mouth!

¹⁸And the Lord will continue to save me from every sort of wickedness until he brings me into his heavenly Kingdom.

May he be glorified throughout the ages of ages…

May it be so!

¹⁹Give my greetings to Priska and Aquila, and to the household of OnesiPhorus.

²⁰Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus at Miletus, because he was sick.

²¹Hurry and get here before the winter arrives!

EuBoulos sends you his greetings, as do Poudes, Linos, Klaudia, and all the brothers.

²²May the Lord bless the spirit you’re showing, and may his loving care be with all of you.

May it be so.