1 I am Paul. I am a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I have been sent to God's chosen people so that they will believe and know what is true. This will make them more like God wants them to be.

² I do this work because then they can hope to have everlasting life. God does not fool people. He promised everlasting life before he made the world.

³ And at the right time he sent men to tell people his word. God, who saves us, trusted me and told me to tell that word.

⁴ Titus, I send greetings to you. You are my true son because you believe the same way I do. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour bless you, and be kind to you, and give you peace. of Crete. I want you to finish putting things in order. And I want you to choose leaders among the church people in every city as I told you to do.

⁵ A leader must be a good man, that no one can blame for doing anything wrong. He must have only one wife. His children should believe. They must not live wrong lives.

⁶ The church leader must be a good man because he looks after God's work. He must not want his own way. He must not get angry or get drunk. He must not fight. He must not try to get rich in wrong ways.

⁷ But he must be kind to strangers in his house. He must love what is good. He must be wise. He must do what is right. He must live a holy life. He must know how to control himself.

⁸ He must hold strongly to the true message which he has been taught. Then he will be able to teach other people what is right. And he will be able to answer people who talk against it.

⁹ There are many people who do not obey God's truth. They talk about things that do no good, and they fool people by it. The Jewish leaders do this very much.

¹⁰ You must put a stop to their talking. They stop whole families from believing in Christ because they teach things which they have no right to teach. They teach because they want to get paid for it, even though it is wrong.

¹¹ One of their own prophets said, `The people of Crete are always telling lies. They are like wild, bad animals. They are lazy and want to eat too much.'

¹² What he said is true. You must tell them that they are wrong. Tell them to stop it. They must believe what is true.

¹³ They must not use the old Jewish stories. They must not use the rules which were made by men who do not believe what is true.

¹⁴ All things are clean to those who have a clean mind. But nothing is clean to those who do wrong things and do not believe. Their minds and their hearts are full of wrong things.

¹⁵ They say that they know God. But what they do shows that they do not know him. They live in a way that God hates. They do not obey. They can do nothing that is good.

2 But as for you, Titus, you must teach what is right.

² Tell the older men that they must not drink too much wine. They must be men whom people respect. They must be wise. They must believe what is true. They must be loving and patient.

³ Tell the older women also that they must live like Christians. They must not tell lies about anyone. They must not drink much wine. They must teach what is good.

⁴ They must teach the young women to love their husbands and their children.

⁵ They must teach young women to have good sense, to live a clean life, to care for their homes, to be kind, and to obey their husbands. Then people cannot say wrong things about God's word.

⁶ Also tell the young men to have good sense.

⁷ Titus, show them what they should do in all matters by the good things you do. Do not mix your teaching with things that are not true. Teach in such a way that people will respect you.

⁸ Be sure that what you say is true, so that no one can say anything against it. Then anyone who is against us will be made ashamed because he can find nothing wrong to say about us.

⁹ Tell servants to obey their master in everything. Tell them to please them and not talk back to them.

¹⁰ They must not steal, but be very honest so the person they work for can trust them. In all things they must show that the teaching about God our Saviour is good.

¹¹ God's loving kindness has come. It is through that blessing that all men are saved.

¹² It teaches us to say no to the things that are not true of God, and to the things of this world. It teaches us to use good sense, to do what is right, and to please God while we live in this world.

¹³ All this is while we wait and hope to see the one who brings blessing. We are waiting for our great God to come in Jesus Christ. He is the One who will save us. He is wonderful!

¹⁴ Christ gave himself for us so that he might make us free from all that is wrong. He gave himself to make us into clean people who belong to him and want to do good.

¹⁵ Talk about these things. Tell people they must do them. And use all your power to stop people if they are doing wrong. Do not let anyone despise you.

3 Tell the people again to obey their rulers and governments, and to do what they tell them to do. Tell them to be ready to do any honest work.

² They must not say wrong things about anyone. They must not quarrel. They must be kind and polite to everyone.

³ There was a time when we ourselves did not have understanding. We did not obey God. We were fooled by people. We did many wrong things we wanted to do. We did what we pleased. We lived our days in planning to do wrong things and wanting what other people had. People hated us, and we hated each other.

⁴ God who saves us showed how kind and good he is.

⁵ We were not saved by any good things we did ourselves, but he saved us because he is so kind. He washed us clean. We were born again as a new person. The Holy Spirit has made us new.

⁶ God is rich. And he gave the Holy Spirit to us because of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

⁷ He did this so that we can be put right with God, by his kindness. He did this so that we can become his children. So now we can look forward to everlasting life.

⁸ These are true words. And I want you to tell the people these things. Then those who have believed God will try to do good things. These things are right and help people.

⁹ Have nothing to do with: foolish quarrels; lists of people who lived long ago; those who make trouble and argue about the law. These things do not help people and are good for nothing.

¹⁰ Talk to any who do not believe right. Talk to them about it once or twice. Then, if they will not listen, have nothing more to do with them.

¹¹ You know that such people are wrong and what they do is wrong. They themselves know that they are wrong. Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at the city of Nicopolis. I have planned to stay there while it is the cold time of the year.

¹² Do your best to send Zenas the lawyer, and Apollos on their way. Give them all they need.

¹³ Our people should learn to spend their time in doing good things to help people who are poor. In that way, our people will not waste their time. Greet those who believe as we do and who love us. God bless you all.