Greetings

1 Paul, a slave of God and an emissary of Messiah Yeshua, for the faith of God’s chosen and the knowledge of truth that is in keeping with godliness, ² based on the hope of eternal life. God—who cannot lie^[a]—promised this before the beginning of time. ³ But in His own time He made His message known, through a proclamation with which I was entrusted, by the command of God our Savior.

⁴ To Titus, a true child of our common faith:

Grace and shalom from God the Father and Messiah Yeshua, our Savior!

Setting the Community in Order

⁵ The reason I left you in Crete was so that you would set in order the things that remain and appoint elders in every city as I directed you— ⁶ if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children of faith with no charge of wild living or rebellion. ⁷ For the overseer must be blameless as God’s administrator—not arrogant, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain. ⁸ Rather he must be hospitable, loving what is good, self-controlled, upright, devout, disciplined. ⁹ He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message in keeping with the teaching, so he can both encourage by instruction that is sound and convict those who speak against it.

¹⁰ For there are many who are rebellious, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those from the circumcision. ¹¹ They must be silenced—those who upset entire households by teaching what they should not, for the sake of dishonest gain. ¹² One of them, one of their own prophets, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply, so they might be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not paying attention to Judaic myths and commands of men who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Both their mind and conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They claim to know God but their deeds deny Him. They are despicable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.