2.Timotheus 1,7 | New International Reader’s Version

1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned. He sent me to tell about the promise of life found in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy, I am sending you this letter. You are my dear son. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy and peace.

Paul gives thanks

3 I thank God, whom I serve as did our people of long ago. I serve God, knowing that what I have done is right. Night and day I thank God for you. Night and day I always remember you in my prayers.

4 I remember your tears. I long to see you so that I can be filled with joy.

5 I remember your honest and true faith. It was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice. And I am certain that it is now alive in you also.

Paul encourages Timothy to be faithful

6 This is why I remind you to help God’s gift grow, just as a small spark grows into a fire. God put his gift in you when I placed my hands on you.

7 God gave us his Spirit. And the Spirit doesn’t make us weak and fearful. Instead, the Spirit gives us power and love. He helps us control ourselves.

8 So don’t be ashamed of the message about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, his prisoner. Instead, join with me as I suffer for the good news. God’s power will help us do that.

9 God has saved us. He has chosen us to live a holy life. It wasn’t because of anything we have done. It was because of his own purpose and grace. Through Christ Jesus, God gave us this grace even before time began.

10 It has now been made known through the coming of our Saviour, Christ Jesus. He has broken the power of death. Because of the good news, he has brought life out into the light. That life never dies.

11 I was appointed to announce the good news. I was appointed to be an apostle and a teacher.

12 That’s why I’m suffering the way I am. But this gives me no reason to be ashamed. That’s because I know who I have believed in. I am sure he is able to take care of what I have given him. I can trust him with it until the day he returns as judge.

13 Follow what you heard from me as the pattern of true teaching. Follow it with faith and love because you belong to Christ Jesus.

14 Guard the truth of the good news that you were trusted with. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Examples of faithful and unfaithful people

15 You know that all the believers in Asia Minor have deserted me. They include Phygelus and Hermogenes.

16 May the Lord show mercy to all who live in the house of Onesiphorus. He often encouraged me. He was not ashamed that I was being held by chains.

17 In fact, it was just the opposite. When he was in Rome, he looked everywhere for me. At last he found me.

18 May Onesiphorus find mercy from the Lord on the day Jesus returns as judge! You know very well how many ways Onesiphorus helped me in Ephesus.

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English Standard Version

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Guard the Deposit Entrusted to You

3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.

4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.

5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,

7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,

9 who saved us and called us to* a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,*

10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,

12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.*

13 Follow the pattern of the sound* words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains,

17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—

18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

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