¹ You must, then, my child, find strength in the help which comes from the union with Christ Jesus;

² and what you learnt from me, in the presence of many listeners, entrust to reliable people, who will be able in their turn to teach others.

³ Share hardships with me, as a true soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁴ A soldier on active service, to please his superior officer, always avoids entangling himself in the affairs of ordinary life.

⁵ No athlete is ever awarded the wreath of victory unless they have kept the rules.

⁶ The laborer who does the work should be the first to receive a share of the fruits of the earth.

⁷ Reflect on what I say; the Lord will always help you to understand.

⁸ Keep before your mind Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David, as told in the good news entrusted to me;

⁹ in the service of which I am suffering hardships, even to being put in fetters as a criminal. But the message of God is not fettered;

¹⁰ and that is why I submit to anything for the sake of God’s people: so that they also may obtain the salvation which comes from union with Christ Jesus, and imperishable glory.

¹¹ How true this saying is — ‘If we have shared his death, we will also share his life.

¹² If we continue to endure, we will also share his throne. If we should ever disown him, he, too, will disown us.

¹³ If we lose our trust, he is still to be trusted, for he cannot be false to himself!’

¹⁴ Remind people of all this; tell them solemnly, as in the sight of God, to avoid controversy, a useless thing and the ruin of those who listen to it.

¹⁵ Do your utmost to show yourself true to God, a worker with no reason to be ashamed, accurate in delivering the message of the truth.

¹⁶ Avoid profane prattle. Those who indulge in it only get deeper into irreligious ways,

¹⁷ and their teaching will spread like a cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are instances of this.

¹⁸ They have gone completely astray as regards the truth; they say that a resurrection has already taken place, and so upset some people’s faith.

¹⁹ Yet God’s firm foundation still stands unmoved, and it bears this inscription — ‘THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS’; and this — ‘LET ALL THOSE WHO USE THE NAME OF THE LORD TURN AWAY FROM WICKEDNESS.’

²⁰ Now in a large house there are not only things of gold and silver, but also others of wood and earthenware, some for better and some for common use.

²¹ If, then, a person has escaped from the pollution of such errors as I have mentioned, they will be like a thing kept for better use, set apart, serviceable to its owner, ready for any good purpose.

²² Flee from the passions of youth, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, in the company of those who, with a pure heart, invoke the Lord.

²³ Shun foolish and ignorant discussions, for you know that they only breed quarrels;

²⁴ and a servant of the Lord should never quarrel. They ought, on the contrary, to be courteous to everyone, skillful teachers, and forbearing.

²⁵ They should instruct their opponents in a gentle spirit; for, possibly, God may give those opponents a repentance that will lead to a fuller knowledge of truth,

²⁶ and they may yet come to a sober mind, and escape from the devil's net, when captured by the Lord’s servant to do the will of God.