1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, sent to tell of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
2To Timothy, my dearly loved son: Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did. Night and day I never stop remembering you in my prayers.
4I remember your tears, and I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.
5I remember your sincere faith. That faith lived first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure it lives in you too.
6So I remind you to stir up the gift of God that is in you, which came when I laid my hands on you.
7For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
8So do not be ashamed of speaking about our Lord, or of me, his prisoner. Instead, share in the sufferings that come with the gospel, by the power of God.
9He has saved us and called us with a holy calling. He did not do this because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
10and it is now shown openly by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ. He has done away with death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
11For this gospel I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
12That is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to keep what I have entrusted to him until that day.
13Hold firmly to the pattern of sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that is in Christ Jesus.
14Guard that good thing which was entrusted to you. Guard it by the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
15You know this: everyone in Asia has turned away from me. Among them are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
16May the Lord give mercy to the household of Onesiphorus. He often refreshed me, and he was not ashamed of my chain.
17When he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.
18May the Lord grant that he finds mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know very well how many ways he helped me at Ephesus.