and be well spoken of for her kind actions. She should have brought up children, have shown hospitality to strangers, have washed the feet of her fellow Christians, have relieved those who were in distress, and devoted herself to every kind of good action.

But you should exclude the younger widows from the list; for, when they grow restive under the yoke of the Christ, they want to marry,

Now at the same time, they also learn to be idle as they go from house to house; and not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies [meddlers in things that do not concern them], talking about things they should not mention.

If any believing woman has widows in her family, she should help them, and the church should not be burdened, so that it can help those who are genuinely widows.

The elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

For the Scripture says [Deut. 25:4], "You should not put a muzzle on the ox while it tramples over the grain." And [Luke 10:7], "The worker deserves his wages."

You should rebuke in front of everyone [in the church] those elders who continue to sin, so that the rest [of the congregation] will be afraid [of sinning].

In like manner also the good works [of some] are previously manifest; and it is not possible that what they have besides should be concealed.

All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their own masters as deserving of the highest respect, so that the name of God and our teaching may not be discredited.

Those who have believing masters are not to be disrespectful toward them because they are brothers [in Christ], but they should serve them even better, because those who benefit from their kindly service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these [duties and principles].

But if we have [enough] food and clothing, we will [i.e., should] be content with that.

For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Therefore you should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner. But be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God,

You should hold on firmly to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, while [maintaining your] faith and love in [harmony with] Christ Jesus.

And the things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, you should pass on to trustworthy men who will be able to teach other people also.

Furthermore, it is the hard working farmer who should have the first share of the crops.

If we continue to endure, we shall also share his throne. If we should ever disown him, he, too, will disown us.

However, the solid foundation of God stands firm. [Note: This probably refers to the church. See I Tim. 3:15]. It is sealed with these words [i.e., certifying God's ownership and a commitment to Him]: "The Lord knows those who are His people," [See Num. 16:5], and "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord should stop practicing wickedness." [See Isa. 36:13].

and a Servant of the Lord should never quarrel. He ought, on the contrary, to be courteous to every one, a skillful teacher, and forbearing.

In meekness, bringing under discipline them that oppose themselves, lest at any time God should give them repentance unto a personal knowledge of truth,

And they should wake up to sobriety out of, the adversary's, snare, - though they have been taken alive by him for, that one's, will.

But you should know this: There will be terrible times in the last days [of the Christian age].

[These people] maintain an appearance of being godly, but they have denied its power; [you should] turn away from such people.

and by lending an assiduous ear to such lessons, render it impossible they should ever be acquainted with the truth.

But you should continue [to believe and practice] what you have learned and been convinced of, knowing those from whom you learned it. [Note: These persons would include Lois and Eunice (See 1:5), as well as Paul himself].

But you should be sober-minded about everything, [willing to] endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

You also should beware of him; for he has violently opposed our preaching.

But the Lord stood with me, and gave me power, that through me the proclamation might be fully made, and all those of the nations should hear; and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth.

For this cause I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you:

namely, a man of unquestionable integrity, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of being immoral or rebellious.

On the contrary, he should be hospitable, eager for the right discreet, upright, a man of holy life and capable of self-restraint,

It is necessary to silence them; they overthrow whole households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly.

[And] this testimony is true. [So], for this reason you should rebuke them severely, so that they will be sound in the faith,

But you should speak those things which agree with sound teaching:

that older men should be temperate, sensible, sober minded, sound in faith, in love, and in patience:

Older women, likewise, should be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to much wine, teachers of what is good.

They should school the young women to be affectionate to their husbands and to their children, to be sober-minded, pure in their lives,

In the same way, you should exhort the younger men to be sensible.

In everything [you do], you should show that you are a [proper] example of doing good deeds. In your teaching show integrity, dignity,

Slaves should be in subjection to their own masters in everything. They should try hard to please them, without talking back

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

who gave Himself for us to purchase our freedom from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people who should be specially His own, zealous for doing good works.

These are the things you should teach. Encourage and refute with full authority. Do not let anyone look down on you.

to speak evil of no one, that they should be peaceable, gentle, showing all meekness to all men.

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is a secure rule, and what I would have you constantly maintain, that they who have believed in God, should take care to be examples of virtue, for that is commendable and useful to mankind.

But you should avoid foolish arguments, and [pointless] discussions about ancestors, and quarrels and disputes about [observance of] the law of Moses, for they are unprofitable and useless.

Our own people should also learn to make good deeds a priority when urgent needs arise, so they won't be unproductive.

in such sort that thy participation in the faith should become operative in the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in us towards Christ Jesus.

And so, though my union with Christ enables me, with all confidence, to dictate the course that you should adopt,

And thou should welcome him, that is, my bowels.

whom I should like to retain for myself, that he might serve me for you in the bonds of the gospel,

But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.

For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that you should receive him forever;

not as a slave, but in another quality, as a dear brother whom I particularly value, but much more should you, both as he is your servant, and as he is a christian.

And again, when God sent the Firstborn One [i.e., Jesus. See Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15, 18; Rev. 1:5] into the world, He said [Deut. 32:43 LXX], "And all of God's angels should worship Him."

But which one of the angels did God ever say [this] about [Psa. 110:1], "You should sit at my right side until I put your enemies [in full subjection] beneath your feet"?

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Instead, someone has declared somewhere, "What is man that you should remember him, or the son of man that you should care for him?

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

For it was fitting for God [that is, an act worthy of His divine nature] that He, for whose sake are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the author and founder of their salvation perfect through suffering [bringing to maturity the human experience necessary for Him to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest].

And for this purpose it was necessary that in all respects He should be made to resemble His brothers, so that He might become a compassionate and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, in order to atone for the sins of the people.

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a minister, to bear witness of those things which should be spoken afterward.

And Christ as a son over his house: whose house are we, if we should hold freedom of speech and the boast of hope firm to the end.

so that I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest."

Take heed, brethren, that there be in none of you an evil heart, in unbelief, that he should depart from the living God:

In that it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, ye should not harden your hearts, as in the exasperation.

And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

For we who believe [that is, we who personally trust and confidently rely on God] enter that rest [so we have His inner peace now because we are confident in our salvation, and assured of His power], just as He has said,

“As I swore [an oath] in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest,”

[this He said] although His works were completed from the foundation of the world [waiting for all who would believe].

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some should enter thereinto, and they to whom the good tidings were before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience,

For if Joshua had given them the true rest, we should not afterwards hear God speaking of another still future day.

So, we should do our best to enter into that state of rest, so that no one fails [to do so] by following the same example of disobedience [i.e., as seen in the Israelites. See verses 2, 6].

Since then we [Christians] have [such] a great Head Priest, who has passed through the skies [i.e., ascended to heaven. See Acts 1:9], Jesus, the Son of God, we should remain true to our profession [of faith in Him].

So, we should approach, with confidence, God's throne of unearned favor, so we can receive mercy and obtain that favor to help us when we need it.

FOR, every high-priest taken from among men, is constituted on behalf of men for those services which relate to God, that he should offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:

And because of this he should, as for the people, so also for himself, offer for sins.

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have again need that one should teach you what are the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food.

So, we should leave the basic principles of Christ's teaching and go on to maturity. [We should] not lay again a foundation of repentance [i.e., turning away] from deeds of death [i.e., acts that lead to spiritual death or that spring from a spiritually dead person], and of faith in God;

of teaching about washings (ritual purifications), the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [These are all important matters in which you should have been proficient long ago.]

if they fall away, should be renewed again unto repentance: Forasmuch as they have, as concerning themselves, crucified the son of God afresh, making a mock of him.

But, should it be bringing forth thorns and briars, it is disapproved, and, unto cursing, nigh, - whose end is for burning.

For God is not unrighteous that he should forget your work and labour that proceedeth of love, which love showed in his name, which have ministered unto the saints, and yet minister.

But our great desire is that every one of you should be equally earnest to attain to a full conviction that our hope will be fulfilled, and that you should keep that hope to the end.

that by two unchangeable things, in which it was impossible that God should lie, we might have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us,

If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

and it is yet more abundantly evident, that there should arise another priest after the likeness of Melchisedec,

For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

For every high priest is constituted for the offering both of gifts and sacrifices; whence it is needful that this one also should have something which he may offer.

For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

And they should not teach each his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from their little even to their great ones.

It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;

since it was necessary that it should suffer often from the foundation of the world, but now once at the consummation of the world he has been manifested to destroy sins by the sacrifice of himself.

as then it is appointed that men should die but once, after which the judgment ensues;

For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Then I said, 'Lo I come.' In the chiefest of the book it is written of me, that I should do thy will, o God."

But, this priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, which should serve for all time, 'took his seat at the right hand of God,'