Titus, 1
1. From Paul, servant of God, apostle of Christ Jesus, at the service of God's chosen people, so that they may believe and reach the knowledge of truth and godliness.
2. The eternal life we are waiting for was promised from the very beginning by God who never lies,
3. and as the appointed time had come, he made it known through the message entrusted to me by a command of God, our Savior.
4. Greetings to you, Titus, my true son in the faith we share. May grace and peace be with you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
5. I left you in Crete because I wanted you to put right what was defective and appoint elders in every town, following my instructions.
6. They must be blameless, married only once, whose children are believers and not open to the charge of being immoral and rebellious.
7. Since the overseer (or bishop) is the steward of God's house, he must be beyond reproach: not proud, hot-headed, overfond of wine, quarrelsome or greedy for gain.
8. On the contrary he must be hospitable, a lover of what is good, wise, upright, devout and self-controlled.
9. He must hold to the message of faith just as it was taught, so that, in his turn, he may teach sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
10. You know that there are many rebellious minds, talkers of nonsense, deceivers, especially the party of the circumcised.
11. They have to be silenced when they go around disturbing whole families, teaching for low gain what should not be taught.
12. A Cretan, one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans: always liars, wicked beasts and lazy gluttons."
13. This is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply if you want them to have a sound faith
14. instead of heeding Jewish fables and practices of people who reject the truth.
15. To the pure everything is pure; to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure: their minds and consciences have been defiled.
16. They pretend to know God but deny him with their deeds. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.