2 Timothy 3

The Last Days

3Remember that there will be difficult times in the last days. ²People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited; they will be insulting, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and irreligious; ³they will be unkind, merciless, slanderers, violent, and fierce; they will hate the good; ⁴they will be treacherous, reckless, and swollen with pride; they will love pleasure rather than God; ⁵they will hold to the outward form of our religion, but reject its real power. Keep away from such people. ⁶Some of them go into people’s houses and gain control over weak women who are burdened by the guilt of their sins and driven by all kinds of desires, ⁷women who are always trying to learn but who can never come to know the truth. ^8*As Jannes and Jambres were opposed to Moses, so also these people are opposed to the truth—people whose minds do not function and who are failures in the faith. ⁹But they will not get very far, because everyone will see how stupid they are. That is just what happened to Jannes and Jambres.

Last Instruction

¹⁰But you have followed my teaching, my conduct, and my purpose in life; you have observed my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance, ^11*my persecutions, and my sufferings. You know all that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the terrible persecutions I endured! But the Lord rescued me from them all. ¹²Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted; ¹³and evil persons and impostors will keep on going from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves. ¹⁴But as for you, continue in the truths that you were taught and firmly believe. You know who your teachers were, ¹⁵and you remember that ever since you were a child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful^b for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, ¹⁷so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.