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¹ From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. God sent me to tell about the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.

² To Timothy, a dear child to me:

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Encouragement for Timothy

³ I thank God as I always mention you in my prayers, day and night. I serve him, doing what I know is right as my ancestors did. ⁴ Remembering that you cried for me, I want very much to see you so I can be filled with joy. ⁵ I remember your true faith. That faith first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I know you now have that same faith. ⁶ This is why I remind you to keep using the gift God gave you when I laid my hands on^[a] you. Now let it grow, as a small flame grows into a fire. ⁷ God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.

⁸ So do not be ashamed to tell people about our Lord Jesus, and do not be ashamed of me, in prison for the Lord. But suffer with me for the Good News. God, who gives us the strength to do that, ⁹ saved us and made us his holy people. That was not because of anything we did ourselves but because of God's purpose and grace. That grace was given to us through Christ Jesus before time began, ¹⁰ but it is now shown to us by the coming of our Savior Christ Jesus. He destroyed death, and through the Good News he showed us the way to have life that cannot be destroyed. ¹¹ I was chosen to tell that Good News and to be an apostle and a teacher. ¹² I am suffering now because I tell the Good News, but I am not ashamed, because I know Jesus, the One in whom I have believed. And I am sure he is able to protect what he has trusted me with until that day.^{[b] 13} Follow the pattern of true teachings that you heard from me in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Protect the truth that you were given; protect it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

¹⁵ You know that everyone in Asia has left me, even Phygelus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶ May the Lord show mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, who has often helped me and was not ashamed that I was in prison. ¹⁷ When he came to Rome, he looked eagerly for me until he found me. ¹⁸ May the Lord allow him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. You know how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.