2 Timothy 3

DIFFICULT TIMES AHEAD

3But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.^{w 2}For people will be lovers of self,^x lovers of money,^y boastful, proud,^z demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,^{aa 3}unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers,^ab without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,^{ac 4}traitors,^ad reckless,^ae conceited,^af lovers of pleasure^ag rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to the form of godliness but denying its power.^ah Avoid these people.^ai

⁶For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions,^{aj 7}always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.^{ak 8}Just as Jannes and Jambres^al resisted Moses,^am so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind^an and worthless^ao in regard to the faith. ⁹But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.

STRUGGLES IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

¹⁰But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose,^ap faith, patience, love,^aq and endurance, ¹¹along with the persecutions and sufferings^ar that came to me in Antioch,^as Iconium,^at and Lystra.^au What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. ¹²In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.^{av 13}Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving^aw and being deceived. ¹⁴But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you,^{ax 15}and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures,^ay which are able to give you wisdom for salvation^az through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God^Aba and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.^bb