4:1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 4:2 Preach the message, 1 be ready 2 whether it is convenient or not, 3 reprove, rebuke, exhort 4 with complete patience and instruction. 4:3 For there will be a time when people 5 will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, 6 they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. 7 4:4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths. 8 4:5 You, however, be self-controlled 9 in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry. 4:6 For I am already being poured out as an offering, and the time for me to depart 10 is at hand. 4:7 I have competed well; 11 I have finished the race; I have kept the faith!
1 tn Or “the word.”
2 tn Or “be persistent.”
3 tn Grk “in season, out of season.”
4 tn Or “encourage.”
5 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the people in that future time) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Grk “in accord with.”
7 tn Grk “having an itching in regard to hearing,” “having itching ears.”
8 sn These myths were legendary tales characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus and Crete. See parallels in 1 Tim 1:4; 4:7; and Titus 1:14.
9 tn Or “sober,” “temperate.”
10 tn Grk “of my departure.”
11 sn The expression I have competed well (Grk “I have competed the good competition”) uses words that may refer to a race or to a boxing or wrestling match: “run the good race” or “fight the good fight.” The similar phrase in 1 Tim 1:18 uses a military picture and is more literally “war the good warfare.”