2 Timothy 3
1 Be aware that there will be troubled times in the last days.
Now understand this: In the last days there will be grievous times;
2 People will love themselves and love money. They will be boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and without God in their lives.
because people will be self-lovers, money lovers, boasters, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 Heartless and unforgiving, they'll commit slander and have no self-control. Brutal people who hate what's good,
without family affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 they will betray others and be totally thoughtless. They are absurdly full of themselves, living so much for pleasure that they don't care about loving God.
betrayers, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
5 They may give an outward impression of being religious, but they don't actually believe it works. Stay away from these people!
wearing a form of godliness while having denied its power! You must avoid such people;
6 They're the kind of people that slip into homes and take control of vulnerable women who are burdened down by the guilt of sin and distracted by all kinds of desires.
because they are the sort that press into households and ‘capture’ gullible women loaded down with sins, who are led along by various lusts,
7 These women are always trying to learn but they're never able to understand the truth!
always learning yet never being able to come to a real knowledge of truth.
8 Just like Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, these teachers also oppose the truth. They are people with corrupted minds whose supposed trust in God is a lie.
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these oppose the truth—men of depraved mind, disqualified as regards the faith—
9 But they won't get far. Their stupidity will be obvious to everyone, just like that of Jannes and Jambres.
but they will not advance any further because, as in the case of the former, their folly will become evident to all.
10 But you know all about my teaching and behavior, and my aim in life. You know my trust in God and my love. You know what I've had to endure—
You, however, have carefully followed my doctrine, my lifestyle, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance;
11 how I've been persecuted and what I've suffered. You know what happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—the troubles I had and how the Lord rescued me from all of them.
the persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured; yet the Lord delivered me out of them all.
12 Of course it's true that everyone who wants to live a life devoted to God in Christ Jesus will experience persecution,
In fact, any one who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted;
13 while wicked people and frauds will do well, going from bad to worse, deceiving others and deceiving themselves too.
while malignant men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But you must hold onto the things you've learned and are convinced are true. You know who taught you.
But you, continue in the things you have learned and to which you were committed, knowing from whom you learned,
15 From your childhood you've known the holy Scriptures which can give you understanding for salvation by trusting in Christ Jesus.
and that from infancy you have known the Sacred Scriptures which are able to make you wise into salvation through the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture inspired by God is useful for teaching, for confronting what is wrong, for setting us straight, and for telling us what is right.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching, for reproving, for correcting, for training in righteousness,
17 This is how God provides a thorough preparation for those who work for him to accomplish all that's good.
so that the man of God may be fully competent, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
