1  I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle whom Christ Jesus chose so that I would do what God wanted. He chose me to tell people that God has promised that they will live eternally as a result of their having a close relationship with Christ Jesus. 2  I am writing to you, Timothy, whom I love as if you were my own son. I pray that God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord will continue to act kindly to you, be merciful to you, and cause you to have inner peace,

3 I thank God for all that he has done for you. I serve him, and my ancestors served him, too. I serve him in a manner that I know to be right. I thank him while repeatedly I pray for you at night and during the day. 4  While I am thanking God for you, I very much want to see you because I remember how you cried [MTY] when we separated. I want to see you in order that I may be ◄filled with joy/very happy►. 5  I thank God because I remember that you sincerely believe in Christ Jesus. First, your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, believed in him and, I am ◄convinced/very sure► that you also believe in him.

6 Because I am sure that you believe in him, I remind you to do fervently/wholeheartedly [MET] what God has ◄assigned for/appointed► you to do and what he has enabled you to do. God ◄ assigned for/appointed► you to do it as a result of my putting my hands on you to show/indicate that he had chosen you to do his work. 7 Remember that God has put his Spirit within us . His Spirit does not cause us to be afraid. Instead, he causes us to be powerful to work for God, and he helps us to love others and to control what we say and do.

8 So never be ashamed/reluctant to tell others the message about our Lord. And do not be ashamed of me, even though I am a prisoner because I preach about him. Instead, be willing to suffer as I do as you proclaim the message about Christ. Endure what you will suffer by letting God empower you to endure it. 9  God saved us and chose us to conduct our lives in a pure way. It was not our doing good deeds/actions that caused him to do this for us—something that we did not deserve. Instead, before ◄time began/he created the world► he purposed/planned to be kind to us as a result of what Christ Jesus would do for us. 10 Now, as a result of our Savior Christ Jesus having come, it has been revealed {he has shown} that he acts kindly toward us. Specifically, Christ Jesus has declared that we will not remain dead after we die! He has also revealed that, as a result of our hearing and accepting the message about Christ, we will live forever in bodies that will not decay! 11 I was chosen {Christ chose me} to go as an apostle to many places and proclaim that message to people. 12 So, even though I suffer here in this prison, I am not ashamed of being here (OR, I am very confident), because I know Christ Jesus, the one whom I have trusted, and I am convinced/sure that he is able to keep safe the good message that he has entrusted to me (OR, the things that I have entrusted to him), and that he will reward me at the time [MTY] when he comes again.

13 Be sure that you tell others the same correct message that you heard from me. And as you tell it, keep trusting in Christ Jesus and keep loving others as Christ Jesus enables you to do. 14 Do not let anyone persuade you to change the good message that God has entrusted/given to you. Allow the Holy Spirit who lives in us to direct what you say.

15 You know that almost all the believers in Asia province have ◄turned away from/abandoned► me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16  But I pray that the Lord will be kind to the family of Onesiphorus for the following reasons: Often he refreshed me and, even though I was a prisoner [MTY], he was not ashamed ◄of me/ to admit he was my friend►. 17 On the contrary, when he came here to Rome city, he diligently searched for me until he found me. 18  I pray that the Lord will be kind to him in that day [MTY] when he, the Lord, will judge people. And how much Onesiphorus served me in Ephesus city, you know very well.