2 Timothy 3

1 But know this: that in the last days, grievous times will come.

Be sure of this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Men will be selfish, mercenary, boastful, haughty, and blasphemous; disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, impure,

3 without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good,

incapable of affection, merciless, slanderous, wanting in self-control, brutal, careless of the right,

4 traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

treacherous, reckless, and puffed up with pride; they will love pleasure more than they love God;

5 holding a form of godliness but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also.

and while they retain the outward form of religion, they will not allow it to influence them. Turn your back on such men as these.

6 For some of these are people who creep into houses and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,

For among them are to be found those who creep into homes and captivate weak women — women who, loaded with sins, and slaves to all kinds of passions,

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

are always learning, and yet never able to attain to a real knowledge of the Truth.

8 Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith are rejected.

Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these people, in their turn, oppose the Truth. Their minds are corrupted, and, as regards the Faith, they are utterly worthless.

9 But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.

They will not, however, make further progress; for their wicked folly will be plain to every one, just as that of Jannes and Jambres was.

10 But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness,

But you, Timothy, were a close observer of my teaching, my conduct, my purposes, my faith, my forbearance, my love, and my patient endurance,

11 persecutions, and sufferings—those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered me out of them all.

as well as of my persecutions, and of the sufferings which I met with at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. You know what persecutions I underwent; and yet the Lord brought me safe out of all!

12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Yes, and all who aim at living a religious life in union with Christ Jesus will have to suffer persecution;

13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

but wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and deceived themselves.

14 But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

You, however, must stand by what you learnt and accepted as true. You know who they were from whom you learnt it;

15 From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

and that, from your childhood, you have known the Sacred Writings, which can give you the wisdom that, through belief in Christ Jesus, leads to Salvation.

16 Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

Everything that is written under divine inspiration is helpful for teaching, for refuting error, for giving guidance, and for training others in righteousness;

17 that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

so that the Servant of God may be perfect himself, and perfectly equipped for every good action.