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¹ Let all who are under the yoke of slavery hold their own masters to be deserving of honour, so that the name of God and the Christian teaching may not be spoken against.² And those who have believing masters should not be wanting in respect towards them because they are their brethren, but should serve them all the more willingly because those who profit by the faithful service rendered are believers and are friends.³ So teach and exhort. If any one is a teacher of any other kind of doctrine, and refuses assent to wholesome instructions--those of our Lord Jesus Christ--and the teaching that harmonizes with true godliness,⁴ he is puffed up with pride and has no true knowledge, but is crazy over discussions and controversies about words which give rise to envy, quarrelling, revilings, ill-natured suspicions,⁵ and persistent wranglings on the part of people whose intellects are disordered and they themselves blinded to all knowledge of the truth; who imagine that godliness means gain.

⁶ And godliness *is* gain, when associated with contentment;⁷ for we brought nothing into the world, nor can we carry anything out of it;⁸ and if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied.⁹ But people who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many unwise and pernicious ways which sink mankind in destruction and ruin.¹⁰ For from love of money all sorts of evils arise; and some have so hankered after money as to be led astray from the faith and be pierced through with countless sorrows.¹¹ But you, O man of God, must flee from these things; and strive for uprightness, godliness, good faith, love, fortitude, and a forgiving temper.¹² Exert all your strength in the honourable struggle for the faith; lay hold of the Life of the Ages, to which you were called, when you made your noble profession of faith before many witnesses.

¹³ I charge you--as in the presence of God who gives life to all creatures, and of Christ Jesus who at the bar of Pontius Pilate made a noble profession of faith--¹⁴ that you keep God's commandments stainlessly and without reproach till the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.¹⁵ For, as its appointed time, this will be brought about by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,¹⁶ who alone possesses immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, and whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be eternal honour and power! Amen.¹⁷ Impress on those who are rich in the present age that they must not be haughty nor set their hopes on riches--that unstable foundation--but on God who provides us richly with all things for our enjoyment.¹⁸ They must be beneficent, rich in noble deeds, open-handed and liberal;¹⁹ storing up for themselves that which shall be a solid foundation for the future, that they may lay hold of the Life which is life indeed.²⁰ O Timothy, guard the truths entrusted to you, shunning irreligious and frivolous talk, and controversy with what is falsely called `knowledge';²¹ of which some have spoken boastfully in connexion with the true faith, and have erred. Grace be with you all.