Book of Common Prayer

¹⁵ This you know, how all those who are in Asia have turned away from me. Of which sort are Phygellus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶ May the Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains, ¹⁷ but when he was at Rome he sought me out very diligently, and found me. ¹⁸ May the Lord grant to him that he may find mercy with the Lord at that day. And in how many things he ministered to me at Ephesus, you know very well.

As in the first chapter, so here Paul exhorts Timothy to be constant in trouble, to suffer manfully, and to abide fast in the wholesome doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ² And what things you have heard from me, many bearing witness, the same deliver to faithful men who are competent to teach others.

³ Therefore suffer affliction as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴ No man who wars entangles himself with worldly business, because he wants to please him who has chosen him to be a soldier. ⁵ And though a man strive to win a competition, yet he is not crowned unless he strives lawfully. ⁶ The husbandman who labours must first receive of the fruits. ⁷ Consider what I say. May the Lord give you understanding in all things.

⁸ Remember that Jesus Christ, being of the seed of David, rose again from death, as declared in my gospel – ⁹ for which gospel I suffer trouble as an evil-doer, even in bonds. But the word of God was not bound. ¹⁰ For this I suffer all things, for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

¹¹ It is a true saying: if we are dead with him, we also will live with him. ¹² If we are patient, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. ¹³ If we do not believe, yet he abides faithful; he cannot deny himself.

On divorce. The rich man questions Christ. Of the sons of Zebedee. Bartimaeus the blind man.

10 And he arose from there and went into the borders of Judea, through the region that is beyond the Jordan. And the people resorted to him afresh, and as his custom was, he taught them again. ² And the Pharisees came and asked him a question, whether it was lawful for a man to put away his wife, in order to prove him. ³ And he answered and said to them, What did Moses tell you to do? ⁴ And they said, Moses permitted us to write a testimonial of divorce and to put her away.

⁵ And Jesus answered and said to them, For the hardness of your hearts he wrote this precept for you. ⁶ But at the first creation, God made them man and woman. ⁷ And for the sake of this, a man must leave his father and mother and abide by his wife, ⁸ and the two shall be one flesh. So then they are now not two, but are one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.

¹⁰ And in the house, his disciples asked him again about that matter. ¹¹ And he said to them, Whoever puts away his wife and marries another, breaks wedlock to her. ¹² And if a woman forsakes her husband and is married to another, she commits adultery.

¹³ And they brought children to him, for him to touch them. And his disciples rebuked the people who brought them. ¹⁴ When Jesus saw that, he was displeased, and said to them, Suffer the children to come to me, and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of God. ¹⁵ Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child, he shall not enter therein. ¹⁶ And he took them up in his arms, and put his hands upon them, and blessed them.