2 Timothy 4:1-17

Charge to Timothy Repeated

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! 4:8 Finally the crown of righteousness is reserved for me. The Lord, the righteous Judge, will award it to me in that day – and not to me only, but also to all who have set their affection on ¹²  his appearing.

Travel Plans and Concluding Greetings

4:9 Make every effort to come to me soon. 4:10 For Demas deserted me, since he loved ¹³  the present age, and he went to Thessalonica. ¹⁴  Crescens went to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. 4:11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is a great help ¹⁵  to me in ministry. ¹⁶  4:12 Now I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. ¹⁷  4:13 When you come, bring with you the cloak I left in Troas with Carpas and the scrolls, especially the parchments. 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm. ¹⁸  The Lord will repay him in keeping with his deeds. ¹⁹  4:15 You be on guard against him ²⁰  too, because he vehemently opposed our words. 4:16 At my first defense no one appeared in my support; instead they all deserted me – may they not be held accountable for it. 4:17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message ²¹  would be fully proclaimed ²²  for all the Gentiles to hear. And so I was delivered from the lion’s mouth!

[4:2]  ¹ tn Or “the word.”

[4:2]  ² tn Or “be persistent.”

[4:2]  ³ tn Grk “in season, out of season.”

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Or “encourage.”

[4:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the people in that future time) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “in accord with.”

[4:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “having an itching in regard to hearing,” “having itching ears.”

[4:4]  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.

[4:5]  ⁹ tn Or “sober,” “temperate.”

[4:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “of my departure.”

[4:7]  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.”

[4:8]  ¹² tn Grk “all who have loved.”

[4:10]  ¹³ tn Grk “having loved.”

[4:10]  ¹⁴ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[4:11]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “useful.”

[4:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “in serving me.”

[4:12]  ¹⁷ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[4:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “showed me much evil.”

[4:14]  ¹⁹ sn An allusion to Ps 28:4.

[4:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “against whom,” as a continuation of the previous clause. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:17]  ²¹ tn Or “the preaching.”

[4:17]  ²² tn Grk “might be completely fulfilled.”