¹ Now the Spirit saith expressly, that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons,

² through the hypocrisy of speakers of lies, who bear a brand on their own conscience,

³ forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from food which God created to be received with thanksgiving, for those who believe and know the truth.

⁴ For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving;

⁵ for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

⁶ If thou lay these things before the brethren, thou wilt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good teaching, with which thou art well acquainted.

⁷ But avoid the profane and old wives’ fables; and exercise thyself unto godliness.

⁸ For bodily exercise is profitable for little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

⁹ True is the saying, and worthy of all acceptance.

¹⁰ For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of believers.

¹¹ These things command and teach.

¹² Let no one despise thy youth, but become an example to the believers, in word, in behavior, in love, in faith, in purity.

¹³ Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to teaching.

¹⁴ Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

¹⁵ Meditate on these things, give thyself wholly to them; that thy progress may be manifest to all.

¹⁶ Give heed to thyself, and to thy teaching; continue in them; for in doing this thou wilt save both thyself and them that hear thee.