1 I am Paul. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus. God and Christ Jesus told me to be an apostle. God is our Saviour, and Christ is the one who gives us hope.

² Timothy, you are my true son because you believe the way I do. I ask God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord to show you love and kindness, and give you peace.

³ When I went to the country of Macedonia, I asked you to stay in the city of Ephesus. I wanted you to tell some of the teachers not to teach wrong things.

⁴ Tell them not to use stories that are not true, and long histories of names. These things often make people quarrel. These things do not make people believe and follow God's way.

⁵ Here is what teachers should aim at. God's people should love each other with a love which comes from a clean heart, a clear mind, and true faith.

⁶ Some teachers have not tried to do these things and so they talk about things that do no good.

⁷ They want to teach the law. But they do not understand what they say. And they do not know what they are trying to prove.

⁸ We know that the law is good when anyone uses it in the right way.

⁹ He must understand that the law was not made for the man who lives right. It was made for those who do not want any laws over them, and for those who will not obey. It was made for those who do not respect God, and those who are bad people. It was made for those who do not respect anything that is holy or belongs to God. It was made for those who beat their fathers or mothers, and for those who kill people.

¹⁰ It was made for those who use sex in the wrong way and for men who have sex with other men. It was made for those who steal people, for those who tell lies, for those who make a promise that is not true, and for any other thing that is not right.

¹¹ The wonderful good news of God teaches what is right. Praise him! And he has trusted me to tell this good news.

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave me power to tell the good news. I thank him because he believed he could trust me, and he chose me for this work.

¹³ There was a time when I did not respect him. I troubled his people. I said wrong things about him. But he was very kind to me, because I did not know what I was doing and I did not believe in him.

¹⁴ Our Lord showed me much love and kindness. I believed in him and had the love which comes from Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ These are true words and everyone should believe them. `Christ Jesus came into the world to save bad people.' And I am the worst of all.

¹⁶ Jesus Christ wanted to show that he is very, very patient. And so he was kind to me who was the worst. He did this so that others would believe in him and live for ever.

¹⁷ Give honour and praise for ever and ever to the one who is King for ever. He will never die. He cannot be seen. He is the only God. Yes, he is!

¹⁸ My son Timothy, here is what I tell you to do. And it is what the prophets said about you before. Remember their words, and fight like a good soldier.

¹⁹ Keep on believing. Do only what you know is right. Some people have not done that and they have stopped believing.

²⁰ Hymenaeus and Alexander are among them. I have given them to Satan so that they will be punished and learn not to teach things that do not respect God.

2 First of all, I want God's people to do this. They must talk to God for all the people. They must ask God to help them. They must ask God to give them what they need. They must thank God for all that he gives them.

² They must talk to God for all the kings and all rulers. They must do this so that we may live in peace and quiet, so that we may please God and do what is right.

³ This is a good thing. And God, our Saviour, is pleased when people do it.

⁴ He wants all people to be saved and to know what is true.

⁵ There is one God. There is also one man who can open the way between God and all people. That man is Christ Jesus.

⁶ He gave his life to set all men free. This matter was told at the right time.

⁷ I was chosen to tell about this and to be an apostle. I am telling the truth. I am not lying. I was chosen to teach people who are not Jews. I must teach them to believe and to know what is true.

⁸ So I want men in every place to talk to God. They must have clean lives when they lift up their hands to talk to God. They must not be angry. They must have faith in God.

⁹ I also want women to wear the right kind of clothes. They should not make a show of themselves, but use good sense. They should not fix up their hair in a fancy way, or wear gold and fine stones, or clothes that cost much money.

¹⁰ But women should busy themselves with good works. This is the right thing for women who say they worship God.

¹¹ A woman must learn quietly and be very humble.

¹² I do not allow any woman to teach or to rule over a man. She must remain quiet.

¹³ Adam was not fooled. But the woman was fooled and did wrong.

¹⁴ But anyway, the women will come safely through the time of delivering a child, if they keep on believing and loving God, and if they live a clean life and keep humble.

3 These are true words. If a man wants to be a leader of the church people, he seeks a good thing.

² For a man to be a church leader, people must speak well of him. He must have only one wife. He must be able to control himself. He must use good sense. He must behave himself well. He must be kind to strangers in his house. He must be a good teacher.

³ He must not get drunk. He must not fight. But he must be kind. He must not quarrel. He must not love money.

⁴ He must be a good leader for his own family. His children must obey him and respect him.

⁵ If a man does not know how to lead his own family, how can he take care of the church of God?

⁶ A church leader must not be a new believer. If he were a new believer, he might become proud and set himself up like the devil did.

⁷ People who are not church people must also speak well of a church leader, so that he will not fall into the devil's trap.

⁸ In the same way, the leader's helpers must be men whom people respect. They must not say one thing one time and something different another time. They must not drink too much wine. They must not try to get rich in wrong ways.

⁹ They must know God's plan and what we believe. They must do only what they know is right.

¹⁰ Try these men first. Then let them help the church people if they have done nothing wrong.

¹¹ In the same way, their wives must be women whom people respect. They must not tell lies about anyone. They must be able to control themselves. They must live so that people can trust them in all things.

¹² The leader's helpers must have only one wife. They must be good leaders for their children and family.

¹³ When they have done the work of a helper well, people will respect them. If they do well, they will not fear to tell what they believe about Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ I am writing to you about these matters even though I hope to come to you soon.

¹⁵ Then if I do not come right away, you will know what people should do in God's family. This family is the church of the living God. The church people hold what is true and keeps it strong.

¹⁶ God's plan is very great as we all know. Here it is: we saw God as a man; God's Spirit proved he was right; angels saw him; the nations were told about him; people of the world believed in him; God took him up into heaven.

4 The Spirit of God says very plainly that in later times some people will stop believing. They will listen to other spirits that fool them, and to the teaching of bad spirits.

² Men will tell lies and make people believe they are something when they are not. These men will have made their hearts so hard that they will not know they are doing wrong.

³ They will teach people that they should not marry. They will teach them not to eat some kinds of food. God made the food and he wanted people to take it and thank him for it. Those who believe and know what is true do this.

⁴ Everything that God has made for food is good. It is all right to eat it if people thank God for it.

⁵ God's word and asking him to bless the food makes it good for people to eat.

⁶ Tell the Christian brothers and sisters these things and you will do the work of Christ Jesus well. Your own heart will be fed by the things you have believed and the good teaching you have followed.

⁷ Have nothing to do with foolish stories. Make yourself strong in the things that please God.

⁸ `To make the body strong helps a little, but the things of God help us in all ways. The things of God promise us life now and life in heaven.'

⁹ These are true words and everyone should believe them.

¹⁰ That is why we work hard and put up with troubles. We trust in the living God who came to save all people. He makes a way for those who believe in him.

¹¹ Tell people these things and teach them to do them.

¹² Do not let anyone despise you because you are a young man. Show those who believe how they should live. Show them by the way you talk. Show them by the way you live. Show them by the way you love. Show them how to believe by the way you believe. Show them how to live a clean life by the way you live a clean life.

¹³ Until I come, read the holy writings to people. Talk to them and teach them.

¹⁴ Use the gift you have. It was given to you when the church leaders put their hands on your head and gave you a message from God.

¹⁵ Take time to think about these things. Then everybody will see how well you are going ahead in your work.

¹⁶ Take care of yourself and what you teach. Keep on doing this. If you do, you will save yourself and those who listen to you.

5 Do not be angry with an older man if he has done something wrong, but talk kindly to him as you would talk to your father. Talk to the young men like brothers.

² Talk to the older women like mothers. Talk to the young women like sisters. And be sure to keep a clean mind and heart in all this.

³ Help widow women, whose husbands are dead, if they have no one to help them.

⁴ If they have children or grandchildren, they should learn that the first place to do God's work is in the home to help their own family. They should help their parents because their parents have helped them. This will please God.

⁵ A widow who has no one to help her, and is alone, trusts in God. Day and night she talks to God and asks him for the things she needs.

⁶ But a woman who spends her time in pleasing herself is really dead, even while she still lives.

⁷ Tell them these things so that they will do what is right.

⁸ A man must care for his own people. At least he must care for his family. If he does not care for them, he shows that he does not believe in God. He is worse than one who has never believed.

⁹ A widow who is over sixty years old, may be chosen to help the church people. But she must have been the wife of one husband.

¹⁰ People must speak well of the good works she has done. Has she brought up children? Has she been kind to strangers and cared for them in her house? Has she washed the feet of God's people? Has she helped people who were in trouble? Has she done every kind of good thing to help people?

¹¹ But do not choose young women. When they begin to love other things more than Christ, they will want to marry again.

¹² And that will be wrong for them because they have not kept their first promise.

¹³ Not only that, but they also become lazy. They walk about going from house to house. Not only are they lazy but they talk too much and tell stories about people. They tell things they should not tell.

¹⁴ So I would like young women to marry again and have children. They should care for their homes. They should do nothing that would make the enemy say wrong things about them.

¹⁵ Some have already turned away to follow Satan.

¹⁶ Do any Christians have in their families women whose husbands are dead? If they do, they should help them. The church people should not have to care for them. Then the church can help the women who have no one to help them.

¹⁷ The leaders of the church people who rule well should be given greater honour and reward. At least do this for those who work hard in speaking and teaching.

¹⁸ The holy writings say, `You may not tie the mouth of a cow when it is walking on the grain to beat it out.' And also, `The man who works should be paid for it.'

¹⁹ Do not listen to a complaint against a leader if what he has done has not been seen and proved by two or three people.

²⁰ Talk to those who live a wrong life and tell them to stop it. Talk to them in front of all the church members. Then the others will be afraid to do it.

²¹ I say this before God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels of God. Do these things in an honest way. Do not treat one person better than another person.

²² Do not be in a hurry to place your hands on a man as a sign for him to be a leader. Do not take part in the wrong things another man does. Keep yourself clean.

²³ Do not drink water only. But drink a little wine to help your stomach because you are sick so often.

²⁴ The wrong things some men do can be seen clearly and show that they should be punished. But wrong things other people do are not seen until later.

²⁵ So also, the good things are seen clearly. Even when they are not seen at first, they will be seen later.

6 Servants should respect their bosses in every way. Then people will not say wrong things about God's name and what we teach.

² Those who work for Christian masters should not take life easy just because the person they work for is a Christian. They should work all the better because they are loved by them. Teach these things and tell people to do them.

³ Is there anyone who teaches something different? Or is there anyone who does not agree with the true words of our Lord Jesus Christ? Or does he not agree with teaching about the things of God?

⁴ If there is such a person, he is full of pride. He knows nothing. He wants to quarrel and talk about words. Such things make people jealous of each other. They think wrong thoughts about each other which are not true.

⁵ They quarrel. The minds of these men are bad. They do not know what is true. They think that worshipping God makes people rich. Keep away from such people.

⁶ It is true that people are much better off if they live to please God and if they are satisfied.

⁷ When we were born, we brought nothing into this world, and when we die, we can take nothing out of the world.

⁸ If we have food and clothes, that should be enough.

⁹ People who want to be rich have trouble. They get caught in a trap. They want many foolish things which are wrong for them. Because of this, men are lost and punished for ever.

¹⁰ Because people love money they do all kinds of wrong things. Some people have stopped believing in God because they want money so much. And it brings them many troubles.

¹¹ But you belong to God, Timothy. Have nothing to do with all this. But do what is right. Do what God wants you to do. Believe in Christ. Be loving. Be patient. Be kind.

¹² Work hard at believing in God more and more. Make sure that you get everlasting life; God called you to have it. You stood before many people and said that you believed in Christ. That was the right thing to say.

¹³ Now we stand before God who gives life to all things. We stand before Christ who said what was right when he was in court before Pontius Pilate. I tell you to do this.

¹⁴ Do what you have been told to do. And do it so there will be nothing wrong, until our Lord Jesus Christ comes.

¹⁵ At the right time God will bring Christ back. Praise God! He alone is ruler. He is King over all kings, and Lord over all lords.

¹⁶ He alone has everlasting life. He lives in such light that no one can go near him. No person has ever seen him, or can see him. May he have honour and respect and have everlasting power. May it be so!

¹⁷ Tell the rich people in this world not to be proud. Tell them to trust in God not in short-lived riches. He gives us richly all things to make us happy.

¹⁸ Tell the rich people to do good. Tell them to do many good things. Tell them to give to other people, and to help those who are in need.

¹⁹ In this way they will store up good things for themselves for the time to come. Then they will get that life which really is the true life.

²⁰ Timothy, take good care of what has been given to you. Some teachers say they know many things, but these things are not true. Do not teach these foolish things that do not come from God. Do not teach these things that do not agree together.

²¹ Some men have believed these things and have stopped believing in Christ. May God bless all of you.