Day 67 of 365

¹But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come.

²For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

³without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good,

⁴traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;

⁵holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof. Turn away from these, also.

⁶For of these are those who creep into houses, and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,

⁷always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

⁸Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith.

⁹But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.

¹⁰But you did follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness,

¹¹persecutions, and sufferings: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. Out of them all the Lord delivered me.

¹²Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

¹³But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

¹⁵From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

¹⁷that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

¹I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his Kingdom:

²proclaim the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching.

³For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts;

⁴and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to myths.

⁵But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.

⁶For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come.

⁷I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.

⁸From now on, there is stored up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

⁹Be diligent to come to me soon,

¹⁰for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

¹¹Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

¹²But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

¹³Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come, and the books, especially the parchments.

¹⁴Alexander, the coppersmith, did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his works,

¹⁵of whom you also must beware; for he greatly opposed our words.

¹⁶At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them.

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

¹⁸And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁹Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus.

²⁰Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick.

²¹Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.

²²The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

¹Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

²in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began;

³but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior;

⁴to Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

⁵I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you;

⁶if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.

⁷For the overseer must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

⁸but given to hospitality, as a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled;

⁹holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.

¹⁰For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,

¹¹whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain's sake.

¹²One of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons."

¹³This testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

¹⁴not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

¹⁵To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.

¹⁶They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.

¹May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause his face to shine on us. Selah.

²That your way may be known on earth, and your salvation among all nations,

³let the peoples praise you, God. Let all the peoples praise you.

⁴Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth. Selah.

⁵Let the peoples praise you, God. Let all the peoples praise you.

⁶The earth has yielded its increase. God, even our own God, will bless us.

⁷God will bless us. All the ends of the earth shall fear him.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:

²that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.

³For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,

⁴But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.

⁶She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.

⁷Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Remove your way far from her. Do not come near the door of her house,

⁹lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.

¹¹You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

¹²and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

¹³neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!

¹⁴I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."

¹⁵Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving doe and a graceful deer- let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?

²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. He examines all his paths.

²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.

²³He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.