2 Timothy 2:15-17

2:15 Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately. ¹  2:16 But avoid profane chatter, ²  because those occupied with it will stray further and further into ungodliness, ³  2:17 and their message will spread its infection ⁴  like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are in this group. ⁵ 

¹ sn Accurately is a figure of speech that literally means something like “cutting a straight road.” In regard to the message of truth, it means “correctly handling” or “imparting it without deviation.”

² sn Profane chatter was apparently a characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus (cf. 1 Tim 1:3-4; 4:7; 6:20).

³ tn Grk “they [who engage in it] will progress even more in ungodliness.”

⁴ tn Or “eat away.”

⁵ tn Grk “of whom are Hymenaeus and Philetus.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, this last clause has been made a new sentence in the translation.