2 Timothy Chapter 3
Showing all 17 verses for 2 Timothy Chapter 3.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. "
"Understand this too: in the final period of history, dangerous, difficult times will come."
Difficult times and difficult people aren't a sign that something's gone uniquely wrong with your particular moment in history - I want you to be realistic, not naive, and prepared rather than shocked when things get hard.
"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, "
"People will be self-obsessed, greedy for money, boastful, arrogant, abusive in speech, disrespectful to their parents, ungrateful, and without any sense of the sacred."
I'm not asking you to hunt for these traits in other people to judge them - look honestly at your own life first. A little self-examination against this list is more useful than pointing fingers.
"Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, "
"Without natural affection for family, unwilling to make peace, quick to accuse falsely, lacking self-control, harsh, and hostile to anything genuinely good."
Watch for a kind of contempt towards goodness itself, in yourself or in a culture around you - it's worth naming when kindness or integrity gets mocked rather than valued. Don't let that mockery talk you out of choosing good anyway.
"Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; "
"Betrayers, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure more than they love what's genuinely good."
Enjoying life isn't the problem - I want that for you. But ask yourself honestly what you'd sacrifice for a quick thrill, and whether that trade is one you'd be proud of later.
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. "
"They'll look religious on the surface, but deny any real power behind it - stay away from people like that."
Watch out for people, and be careful you're not one yourself, who perform goodness without living it - the gap between appearance and reality is where real harm often hides. I care far more about what's real in you than what looks good from outside.
"For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, "
"These are the kind of people who worm their way into households and take advantage of vulnerable women weighed down by guilt, pulled along by all sorts of desires."
I want you alert to anyone who targets people at their most vulnerable moments for their own gain - that's a betrayal of trust I take seriously. Protect people who are struggling; never exploit them.
"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. "
"Always learning something new, yet never able to arrive at real understanding of the truth."
There's a difference between constantly consuming new information and actually growing wiser. I want you to notice if you're always chasing the next thing without ever letting truth actually land and change you.
"Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. "
"Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, these people also resist the truth - their minds are corrupted, and their faith has failed the test."
Opposition to what's true and good isn't new, and it isn't a sign that truth is losing. I want you to recognise the pattern across history and not be shaken when you encounter your own version of it.
"But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. "
"But they won't get much further, because their foolishness will become obvious to everyone, just as it did with those magicians."
If you're worried that dishonesty or manipulation seems to be winning right now, take heart - it rarely lasts. I want you to trust that patience and integrity outlast deception, even when it doesn't feel that way in the moment.
"But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, patience, "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"But you know full well what I've taught, how I've lived, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance."
The people worth learning from are the ones whose lives you've actually watched over time, whose character holds up under close, sustained observation. I ask you to be that kind of example for someone, not just someone with the right words.
"Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. "
"You've seen the persecutions and hardships I faced in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra - what I went through - and yet the Lord rescued me from every one of them."
I don't hide from you that a good life can still include real, specific hardship - the difficulties Paul names were genuinely severe. But notice too the pattern of deliverance that ran alongside them; you're not left to face hardship with no help at all.
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall persecution. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"In fact, everyone who wants to live a genuinely good life will face some kind of opposition."
If living honestly and with integrity sometimes costs you comfort or approval, that's not a sign you're doing something wrong - it may be a sign you're doing something right. I don't promise you an easy road, but I do promise you're not walking it for nothing.
"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. "
"But dishonest people and con artists will keep getting worse, deceiving others while being deceived themselves."
Dishonesty doesn't just harm the people you deceive - it warps you too, and it tends to get worse, not better, over time. I want you to see the trap early and choose the harder, honest road instead.
"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; "
"But you, keep holding on to what you've learned and become convinced of, remembering who taught it to you."
When you're deciding what to hold onto, consider not just the idea itself but who taught it to you, and whether their life backed up their words. I want the source of your convictions to matter to you, not just the convictions themselves.
"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. "
"And you've known the sacred writings since you were a child - writings that can make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."
What you learn early in life, even before you fully understand it, can become a foundation you draw on for the rest of your life. If you have the chance to give someone that kind of grounding, especially a child, it's a genuine gift.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: "
"All Scripture is God-breathed, and useful for teaching what's true, showing where we've gone wrong, correcting us, and training us to live rightly."
I want you to see these old writings not as dusty rules but as a genuinely useful guide - something that can show you where you're off track and help train you towards a better way of living. Approach it as a practical tool for a better life, not an obligation.
"That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. "
"So that anyone devoted to God may be fully equipped and ready for every good work."
I don't want you just to feel inspired - I want you equipped and ready to actually do good in the world. Let whatever wisdom you gather translate into real, practical action that helps people.