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The Last Days

¹ Remember that there will be difficult times in the last days. ² People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited; they will be insulting, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and irreligious; ³ they will be unkind, merciless, slanderers, violent, and fierce; they will hate the good; ⁴ they will be treacherous, reckless, and swollen with pride; they will love pleasure rather than God; ⁵ they will hold to the outward form of our religion, but reject its real power. Keep away from such people. ⁶ Some 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, ⁷ women who are always trying to learn but who can never come to know the truth. ^8 (a)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. ⁹ But they will not get very far, because everyone will see how stupid they are. That is just what happened to Jannes and Jambres.

Last Instructions

¹⁰ But you have followed my teaching, my conduct, and my purpose in life; you have observed my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance, ^11 (b)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. ¹² Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted; ¹³ and evil persons and impostors will keep on going from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves. ¹⁴ But as for you, continue in the truths that you were taught and firmly believe. You know who your teachers were, ¹⁵ and 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. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful^[a] for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, ¹⁷ so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.