¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the  ²command of  ³God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our  ⁴hope,

To  ¹Timothy, genuine child in  ²faith: Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Even as I exhorted you, when I was  ¹going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge  ²certain ones not to teach  ³different things

Nor to give heed to  ¹myths and unending  ²genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God's  ³economy, which is in  ⁴faith.

But the end of the  ¹charge is  ²love out of a  ³pure heart and out of a good conscience and out of unfeigned faith;

From which things some, having  ¹misaimed, have turned aside to  ²vain talking,

Desiring to be  ¹teachers of the law, though they understand neither the things that they say, nor concerning what they  ²confidently affirm.

But we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully

And knows this, that the law is not enacted for a righteous man but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who  ¹strike their fathers and those who strike their mothers, for murderers,

For fornicators, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever other thing that is opposed to the  ¹healthy teaching,

According to the  ¹gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.

I give thanks to Him who  ¹empowers me, Christ Jesus our Lord, that He has counted me faithful, appointing me to the ministry,

Who formerly was a  ¹blasphemer and a persecutor and an  ²insulting person; but I was shown  ³mercy because, being  ⁴ignorant, I acted in  ⁴unbelief.

And the  ¹grace of our Lord superabounded with  ²faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Faithful is the word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus  ¹came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost.

But because of this I was shown mercy, that in me, the foremost, Jesus Christ might display all His long-suffering for a  ¹pattern to those who are to believe on Him unto  ²eternal life.

 ¹Now to the King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be  ²honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

This  ¹charge I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the  ²prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you might  ³war the good warfare,

Holding  ¹faith and a good conscience, concerning which some, thrusting these away, have become  ²shipwrecked regarding the  ³faith;

Of whom are  ¹Hymenaeus and  ²Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan that they may be  ³disciplined not to blaspheme.

Oh that my head were waters,
And my eye a fountain of tears,
That I might  ¹weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Oh that I had a traveler's lodging place in the wilderness
That I might leave my people and go away from them,
For all of them are adulterers and an assembly of treacherous men.

They bend their tongue like their bow;
Falsehood, and not truth,
Prevails in the land;
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me, declares Jehovah.

Let each man be on guard against his neighbor
And not confide in any brother;
For every brother only supplants,
And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.

And everyone deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth;
They teach their tongue to speak falsehood;
They weary themselves committing iniquity.

Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they refuse to know Me,
Declares Jehovah.

Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts,
Indeed, I will refine them and test them;
For what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?

Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit.
Each speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,
But in his heart he lays an ambush for him.

Shall I not punish them for these things?
Declares Jehovah;
And on a nation such as this
Shall My soul not avenge itself?

For the mountains I will take up a  ¹weeping and wailing,
And for the pastures of the wilderness, a lamentation;
Because they have been burned up so that no one passes through,
And the sound of cattle is not heard;
Both the birds of the sky and the beasts
Have fled and have gone.

And I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
A habitation of jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah
A desolation without inhabitant.

Who is the wise man who can understand this, and he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken, that he might declare it? Why is the land destitute, burned like the wilderness, so that no one passes through?

And Jehovah said, Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to My voice or walked in  ¹My law,

But have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them;

Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink.

And I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers knew, and send the sword after them until I have consumed them.

Thus says Jehovah of hosts,
Consider, and call for the mourning women to come,
And send for the skillful women to come;

Let them hasten and take up a wailing for  ¹us,
That  ¹our eyes may shed tears
And  ¹our eyelids may pour forth water.

For a voice of wailing
Was heard from Zion:
How we are ruined!
We are utterly put to shame! =For we have forsaken the land
Because they have cast down our dwellings.

Therefore listen, O women, to the word of Jehovah,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
And teach your daughters wailing,
And let each teach her neighbor a lamentation.

For death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To cut off the children from the streets,
The young men from the open squares.

Speak: Thus declares Jehovah,
And the corpses of men will fall
Like dung on the surface of the field
And like a sheaf after the reaper,
And there will be no one to gather them.

Thus says Jehovah,
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
And let not the mighty man glory in his might;
Let not the rich man glory in his riches.

But let him who glories glory in this,
That he has insight and knows Me,
That I am Jehovah who exercises lovingkindness,
Justice, and righteousness on earth;
For in these things I delight, declares Jehovah.

Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will punish all those who are  ¹circumcised and yet  ¹uncircumcised:

Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab and all those who cut the corners of their beards, who inhabit the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

Hear the word which Jehovah speaks to you, O house of Israel.

Thus says Jehovah,
Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens,
Although the nations are terrified by them.

For the customs of the peoples are vanity,
Because their god is a tree cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with an ax.

He adorns it with silver and with gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it cannot totter.

They are like a  ¹post in a cucumber field,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried
Because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
And neither is it in them to do good.

There is none like You, O Jehovah;
You are great,
And Your name is great in might.

Who would not fear You,
O King of the nations?
For it befits You,
For among all the wise of the nations
And in all their kingdoms
There is none like You.

But they are altogether stupid and foolish;
The instruction of their idols is mere wood.

Beaten silver
Is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman
And of the hands of a goldsmith.
Their clothing is blue and purple;
All of them are the work of skillful men.

But Jehovah is the true God;
He is the living God and the eternal King.
At His wrath the earth quakes,
And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

 ¹Thus you shall say to them, The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth, these will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.

It is He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom,
And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.

When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
And He causes the vapors to rise from the ends of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain
And brings forth wind from His treasuries.

Every man is stupid, without knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idol;
For his molten image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.

They are vanity, the work of delusion;
At the time of their punishment they will perish.

The Portion of Jacob is not like these;
For He is the One who formed everything,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
Jehovah of hosts is His name.

Gather up your bundle from the ground,
O inhabitant under siege.

For thus says Jehovah,
I will sling out
The inhabitants of the land
At this time,
And I will bring distress on them,
That they may find it.

Woe is me because of my hurt!
My wound is grievous.
But I said, Truly this is my affliction,
And I must bear it.

My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken;
My children have gone from me and they are not;
There is no one who will spread out my tent again
And set up my curtains.

For the shepherds are stupid
And have not sought Jehovah;
Therefore they have not prospered,
And all their flock is scattered.

The sound of a report! Here it comes,
Even a great commotion  ¹from the land of the north,
To make the cities of Judah
A desolation, a habitation of jackals.

I know, O Jehovah,
That a man's way is not in himself;
It is not in the man who walks
To direct his step.

Correct me, O Jehovah, but in measure,
Not in Your anger lest You bring me to nothing.

Pour out Your wrath on the nations
Who do not know You
And upon the families
Who do not call upon Your name;
For they have devoured Jacob, yes, devoured him and brought him to an end,
And they have desolated his habitation.