Warning Against Worldliness
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions1 are at twar within you?2 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, ubecause you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask vwrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You wadulterous people!3 xDo you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the yspirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, z“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. aResist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 bDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you cdouble-minded. 9 dBe wretched and mourn and weep. eLet your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 fHumble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.4 The one who speaks against a brother or gjudges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one hlawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. iBut who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, j“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet kyou do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a lmist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, m“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. nAll such boasting is evil. 17 oSo whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Warning to the Rich
1 Come now, you prich, qweep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are rmoth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up streasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the twages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a uday of slaughter. 6 You have vcondemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
Patience in Suffering
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,1 until the wcoming of the Lord. xSee how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the yearly and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, zfor the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, aso that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the bprophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those cblessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of dthe steadfastness of Job, and you have seen ethe purpose of the Lord, fhow the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
12 But above all, my brothers, gdo not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, hbut let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
The Prayer of Faith
13 iIs anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? jLet him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, kanointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. lAnd if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. mThe prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.2 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and nhe prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 oThen he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
19 My brothers, pif anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will qcover a multitude of sins.
Greeting
1 Paul, an aapostle of Christ Jesus bby command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our chope,
2 To Timothy, dmy true child in the faith:
eGrace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Warning Against False Teachers
3 fAs I urged you gwhen I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to hteach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to imyths and endless jgenealogies, which promote kspeculations rather than the lstewardship1 from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is mlove that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a nsincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by oswerving from these, have pwandered away into qvain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, rwithout understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
8 Now we know that sthe law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, tfor the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for uthose who strike their fathers and mothers, for vmurderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, wenslavers,2 liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to xsound3 doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the yblessed God with which I have been zentrusted.
Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners
12 aI thank him who has given me bstrength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, cappointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, dpersecutor, and insolent opponent. But I ereceived mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me fwith the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 gThe saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that hChrist Jesus came into the world to save sinners, iof whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received jmercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an kexample to those who were to lbelieve in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, mimmortal, ninvisible, the oonly God, be honor and glory forever and ever.4 Amen.
18 This charge I pentrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with qthe prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the rgood swarfare, 19 tholding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made ushipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are vHymenaeus and wAlexander, whom I have xhanded over to Satan that they may learn not to yblaspheme.
Pray for All People
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 zfor kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and aquiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is bpleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 cwho desires all people to be saved and to come to the dknowledge of the truth. 5 For ethere is one God, and fthere is one gmediator between God and men, the man1 Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a hransom for iall, which is the testimony given jat the proper time. 7 For this I was kappointed a preacher and an lapostle m(I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
8 I desire then that in every place the men should npray, lifting oholy hands without anger or pquarreling; 9 likewise also that qwomen should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and rself-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 sLet a woman learn quietly twith all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For uAdam was formed first, vthen Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but wthe woman was xdeceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved ythrough zchildbearing—if they continue in afaith and love and holiness, with self-control.
