2 Timothy 3:12-17

3:12 Now in fact all who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 3:13 But evil people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, ¹  deceiving others and being deceived themselves. ²  3:14 You, however, must continue ³  in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know ⁴  who taught you ⁵  3:15 and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 3:16 Every scripture ⁶  is inspired by God ⁷  and useful for teaching, for reproof, ⁸  for correction, and for training in righteousness, 3:17 that the person dedicated to God ⁹  may be capable ¹⁰  and equipped for every good work.

¹ tn Grk “will advance to the worse.”

² tn Grk “deceiving and being deceived.”

³ tn Grk “but you, continue,” a command.

⁴ tn Grk “knowing,” giving the reasons for continuing as v. 14 calls for.

⁵ tn Grk “those from whom you learned.”

⁶ tn Or “All scripture.”

⁷ sn Inspired by God. Some have connected this adjective in a different way and translated it as “every inspired scripture is also useful.” But this violates the parallelism of the two adjectives in the sentence, and the arrangement of words makes clear that both should be taken as predicate adjectives: “every scripture is inspired…and useful.”

⁸ tn Or “rebuke,” “censure.” The Greek word implies exposing someone’s sin in order to bring correction.

⁹ tn Grk “the man of God,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos) is most likely used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women.

¹⁰ tn This word is positioned for special emphasis; it carries the sense of “complete, competent, able to meet all demands.”