6:20 O Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you. Avoid 1 the profane chatter and absurdities 2 of so-called “knowledge.” 3 6:21 By professing it, some have strayed from the faith. 4 Grace be with you all. 5
1 tn Grk “avoiding.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
2 tn Or “contradictions.”
3 tn Grk “the falsely named knowledge.”
4 tn Grk “have deviated concerning the faith.”
5 tc Most witnesses (א2 D1 Ψ Ï sy) conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the earliest and best witnesses (א* A D* F G 33 81 1739* 1881 it sa) lack the particle, indicating that the letter concluded with “Grace be with you all.”