2 Timothy 2

So you, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

1Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Note"My son" is not a claim about family. A teacher in this period commonly called his pupil his son or child, and Paul uses the word of Timothy throughout both letters to him.

2And what you heard me teach in front of many witnesses, hand on to trustworthy people who will be able to teach others too.

2And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

3So take your share of hardship, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

3Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Note"Endure hardness" is 1611 English for putting up with rough treatment. The Greek verb carries a "with me" prefix: Paul is asking Timothy to take a share of the hardship Paul is already in, not just to be tough on his own.

4No one serving as a soldier gets tangled up in everyday civilian business, because he wants to please the officer who enlisted him.

4No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Note"Warreth" means serves as a soldier, not fights a battle. Roman soldiers on active service were legally barred from trading, farming for profit, or getting drawn into business and lawsuits; the "him who hath chosen him" is the commanding officer who enrolled him and whose judgment his standing depends on.

5And an athlete competing in the games does not get the winner's crown unless he competes by the rules.

5And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

Note"Strive for masteries" means compete in the athletic games. The prize was a wreath of leaves, not a metal crown. "Lawfully" means according to the rules of the contest, which at the great games included a sworn oath and a required period of training beforehand; a competitor who skipped either was disqualified however well he ran.

6The farmer who works hard should be the first to get a share of the crop.

6The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

Note"Husbandman" is the ordinary King James word for a farmer. The picture is of the man who does the actual work having the first claim on what the land produces, ahead of anyone else with an interest in the crop.

7Think about what I am saying, and the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

7Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

8Remember Jesus Christ, a descendant of David, raised from the dead. That is the good news I preach.

8Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:

Note"Of the seed of David" is a standard idiom for "descended from David." King David had been promised a lasting royal line, and descent from him was the expected mark of the deliverer Israel looked for, so the phrase is a claim about Jesus's standing, not a genealogical footnote.

9Because of that good news I am suffering trouble, chained up like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.

9Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

Note"Bonds" means chains, and behind it lies literal imprisonment: a Roman prisoner awaiting trial was often chained by the wrist to the soldier guarding him. The force of the sentence turns on that image being physical, which is why the next clause can say the word of God is not chained.

10So I put up with everything for the sake of the people God has chosen, so that they too may receive the rescue that is in Christ Jesus, together with glory that lasts forever.

10Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Note"The elect" means those God has chosen. It was an old term for Israel that early Christians took over for their own communities; it is a way of naming a group, not a comment on any individual's prospects.

11Here is a saying you can trust: if we died with him, we will also live with him.

11It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

Note"It is a faithful saying" is a fixed formula used five times in the letters to Timothy and Titus, flagging a line already in circulation and known to the readers. What follows in verses 11 to 13 is rhythmic and balanced in the Greek and is generally taken to be a quoted hymn or confession rather than Paul's own composition on the spot.

12If we hold up under suffering, we will also rule with him. If we say we do not know him, he will also say he does not know us.

12If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Note"If we suffer" here does not mean "if we feel pain." The King James verb translates a Greek word meaning to hold out or stay under a load, so the sense is "if we endure." "Deny" in this verse is the same word used of Peter disowning Jesus in the courtyard: publicly saying you have no connection with someone.

13If we are unfaithful, he stays faithful, because he cannot go against who he is.

13If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

14Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them, with God as witness, not to fight over words. Such fighting does no good and only ruins the people who listen.

14Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

Note"Charging them before the Lord" is the language of a solemn oath sworn with God as the witness, a legal register rather than a mild reminder. "Strive not about words" translates a single Greek verb for word-battling, arguing about terms rather than substance. "Subverting" is the word from which we get catastrophe and means being ruined or knocked over, not being tricked.

15Do your best to present yourself to God as someone he approves: a worker with no reason to be ashamed, who handles the word of truth correctly.

15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Note"Study" in 1611 meant "make an effort" or "take pains," with no reference to books. "Rightly dividing" translates a Greek word meaning to cut straight, used of cutting a straight furrow or a straight road; the sense is handling something accurately and without wandering off line, not carving the text into parts.

16But stay away from godless, empty talk, because it will only lead people further into godless living.

16But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

Note"Profane" in the King James does not mean foul language. It meant unhallowed or belonging outside sacred use, the opposite of holy. "Vain babblings" is a single Greek compound for empty noise, talk with no content.

17Their talk will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are two men who talk this way.

17And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

Note"Canker" was the ordinary English word in 1611 for a spreading sore, and here it translates the Greek term for gangrene, tissue dying and the rot creeping outward into healthy flesh. The point of the comparison is the spreading, not the ugliness. A Hymenaeus is named in similar terms in 1 Timothy 1:20.

18They have wandered away from the truth. They say the resurrection has already happened, and they are wrecking the faith of some people.

18Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

NoteThe claim that "the resurrection is past already" was not a claim that people had seen graves open. It reinterpreted resurrection as something purely inward and spiritual that had happened at conversion, leaving nothing bodily still to come. "Erred" translates a word meaning to miss the mark or go off target.

19Even so, the solid foundation God laid stands firm. It carries this stamp: "The Lord knows the people who belong to him," and, "Everyone who names the name of Christ must turn away from doing wrong."

19Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

NoteA "seal" here is an inscription. Large buildings in the ancient world carried cut lettering on the foundation stone naming the owner or builder, and seals more generally marked who a thing belonged to. The two quoted lines echo the words of Moses at the rebellion of Korah in Numbers 16: the first states who is recognized, the second what is required of them.

20In a large house there are containers not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay. Some are for honored use and some for dishonored use.

20But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

Note"Vessels" means containers and utensils of every kind, from serving dishes to chamber pots. A wealthy household had gold and silver ware brought out for guests and cheap wood and clay pots for daily and dirty work. "To honour" and "to dishonour" describe the job a pot is put to, not its moral character.

21So if a person cleans himself of these wrong things, he will be a container used for honor: set apart, useful to the master of the house, and ready for every good work.

21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

Note"These" is genuinely open in the Greek: it can mean the dishonorable vessels, that is, keeping clear of such people, or the wrong things just described, that is, cleaning out one's own behavior. Both readings have been held since antiquity. "Meet" is old English for fit or suitable, and "sanctified" means set apart for a particular use rather than left to general purposes.

22Run away from the desires that pull at young people. Instead chase after right living, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

22Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Note"Charity" in the King James always means love, not giving money to the poor; the modern sense of the word had not yet taken over. "Youthful lusts" translates a phrase covering the whole range of strong desires associated with the young, ambition, temper and the urge to win an argument as much as sexual appetite.

23Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant arguments, since you know they only start fights.

23But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

Note"Unlearned" means uninformed or ignorant of the subject, not uneducated in general. "Gender" is the old verb meaning to breed or give birth to, related to engender: these arguments do not merely accompany fights, they produce them.

24The Lord's servant must not be a fighter. He must be gentle with everyone, able to teach, and patient when wronged.

24And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

Note"Servant" translates the word for a slave, someone wholly at another's disposal. "Strive" here means quarrel or brawl, not try hard. "Apt to teach" means skilled at teaching, able to do it. "Patient" renders a Greek word with a narrower sense than ours: putting up with being wronged without hitting back.

25He should correct those who oppose him in a gentle way. Perhaps God will give them a change of heart, so that they come to know the truth.

25In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

Note"Meekness" in 1611 meant a restrained, unaggressive manner, closer to gentleness than to timidity, and it was a quality expected of people with power to use. "Those that oppose themselves" reflects a Greek form that can be read either as those who set themselves against the teacher or as those doing damage to themselves by their opposition; the King James keeps the double possibility. "Peradventure" means perhaps, and "acknowledging" means coming to recognize or know, not admitting fault.

26Then they may come to their senses and get free from the devil's trap, where they have been held captive to do what he wants.

26And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Note"Recover themselves" translates a verb meaning to sober up, to come round after being drunk. The last clause has two different pronouns for "him" in the Greek and is genuinely disputed: it can mean held captive by the devil to do the devil's will, or captured by God's servant out of the devil's trap to do God's will. Translators have gone both ways since the earliest commentators.