2 Timothy 3
The full text of 2 Timothy 3 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 But understand this: in the last days there will be terrible times.
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, hostile to good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over vulnerable women, who are loaded down with sins and swayed by all kinds of desires,
7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth—people of corrupt mind, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.
9 But they will not get very far, because their folly will be plain to everyone, as was the folly of those two.
10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance,
11 my persecutions, my sufferings—the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, because you know those from whom you learned it,
15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness,
17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Translation notes (10)
- 2 Timothy 3:1a The phrase eschatais hēmerais, 'last days', takes up the Hebrew prophetic formula acharit hayyamim, 'the latter days' (as in Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1), placing the church age within that expected era. The adjective chalepos, 'hard' or 'fierce', occurs in the New Testament only here and in Matthew 8:28, where it describes violent demoniacs.
- 2 Timothy 3:5a Morphōsis (μόρφωσις), 'form' or 'outward shape', appears in the New Testament only here and in Romans 2:20; it denotes the external semblance or embodiment of a thing rather than its substance. The word thus contrasts sharply with dynamis, 'power', marking a religion of appearance emptied of effect.
- 2 Timothy 3:6a The Greek word gynaikaria is a diminutive that can be dismissive ('little women,' 'silly women') or simply pitying ('vulnerable women'). The intended tone, whether from the false teachers or Paul, is debated; it is rendered here to convey the women's vulnerability to exploitation, not contempt.
- 2 Timothy 3:8a Jannes and Jambres are the names Jewish tradition gave to Pharaoh's magicians, who are unnamed in Exodus 7. They appear in the Damascus Document among the Dead Sea Scrolls and in later targumic tradition, showing the names were current well before Paul's time. Greek adokimoi, 'rejected', describes what fails a test, here disqualification regarding the faith.
- 2 Timothy 3:11a The cities named are Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, where Acts 13–14 records Paul being expelled, threatened, and finally stoned during his first missionary journey. Timothy, a native of Lystra (Acts 16:1), would have known these events firsthand. The verb errysato, 'rescued', echoes the language of divine deliverance in the Septuagint Psalms.
- 2 Timothy 3:12a The Greek construction of a present participle with the future passive indicative verb diōchthēsontai, 'will be persecuted,' emphasizes the certainty of suffering for those who live a godly life.
- 2 Timothy 3:13a The Greek ponēroi (πονηροὶ) refers to those who are malicious or evil, and goētes (γόητες) denotes deceivers or swindlers, often with a magical connotation.
- 2 Timothy 3:15a The Greek phrase hiera grammata (ἱερὰ γράμματα), 'sacred writings', occurs only here in the New Testament and was a standard Jewish designation for Scripture, found in Philo and Josephus. Since Timothy knew these writings from infancy (brephos, 'infant'), taught by his Jewish mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5), the reference is to the books Christians call the Old Testament.
- 2 Timothy 3:16a The Greek phrase pasa graphē theopneustos can be read as 'All Scripture is God-breathed and useful...' or as 'Every God-breathed Scripture is also useful...' The placement of the implied verb 'is' in the sentence is debated.
- 2 Timothy 3:17a The Greek phrase ho tou theou anthrōpos, meaning 'the person of God' or 'the man of God,' is a general term for anyone devoted to God, not necessarily specific to males.
About this translation
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