2 Timothy 3

¹ You may be quite sure that in the last days there will be some difficult times.

² People wil be self-centred and avaricious, boastful, arrogant and rude; disobedient to their parents,ungrateful, irreligious;

³ heartless and intractable; they wil be slanderers, profligates, savages and enemies of everything that isgood;

⁴ they wil be treacherous and reckless and demented by pride, preferring their own pleasure to God.

⁵ They wil keep up the outward appearance of religion but wil have rejected the inner power of it. Keepaway from people like that.

⁶ Of the same kind, too, are those men who insinuate themselves into families in order to get influenceover sil y women who are obsessed with their sins and follow one craze after another,

⁷ always seeking learning, but unable ever to come to knowledge of the truth.

⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres defied Moses, so these men defy the truth, their minds corrupt and theirfaith spurious.

⁹ But they will not be able to go on much longer: their fol y, like that of the other two, must become obviousto everybody.

¹⁰ You, though, have followed my teaching, my way of life, my aims, my faith, my patience and my love,my perseverance

¹¹ and the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in places like Antioch, Iconium and Lystra -- althe persecutions I have endured; and the Lord has rescued me from every one of them.

¹² But anybody who tries to live in devotion to Christ is certain to be persecuted;

¹³ while these wicked impostors wil go from bad to worse, deceiving others, and themselves deceived.

¹⁴ You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true; remember who your teachers were,

¹⁵ and how, ever since you were a child, you have known the holy scriptures -from these you can learnthe wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶ Al scripture is inspired by God and useful for refuting error, for guiding people's lives and teachingthem to be upright.

¹⁷ This is how someone who is dedicated to God becomes ful y equipped and ready for any good work.