Titus, 1

1. From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion,

1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness,

2. and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by God. He does not lie

2. in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago

3. and so, in due time, he made known his message by a proclamation which was entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.

3. and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Savior;

4. To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share. Grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.

4. To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

5. The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to organise everything that still had to be done and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you,

5. This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you,

6. that is, each of them must be a man of irreproachable character, husband of one wife, and his children must be believers and not liable to be charged with disorderly conduct or insubordination.

6. if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of being profligate or insubordinate.

7. The presiding elder has to be irreproachable since he is God's representative: never arrogant or hot-tempered, nor a heavy drinker or violent, nor avaricious;

7. For a bishop, as God's steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

8. but hospitable and a lover of goodness; sensible, upright, devout and self-controlled;

8. but hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled;

9. and he must have a firm grasp of the unchanging message of the tradition, so that he can be counted on both for giving encouragement in sound doctrine and for refuting those who argue against it.

9. he must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it.

10. And in fact there are many people who are insubordinate, who talk nonsense and try to make others believe it, particularly among those of the circumcision.

10. For there are many insubordinate men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially the circumcision party;

11. They must be silenced: people of this kind upset whole families, by teaching things that they ought not to, and doing it for the sake of sordid gain.

11. they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for base gain what they have no right to teach.

12. It was one of themselves, one of their own prophets, who said, 'Cretans were never anything but liars, dangerous animals, all greed and laziness';

12. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."

13. and that is a true statement. So be severe in correcting them, and make them sound in the faith

13. This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

14. so that they stop taking notice of Jewish myths and the orders of people who turn away from the truth.

14. instead of giving heed to Jewish myths or to commands of men who reject the truth.

15. To those who are pure themselves, everything is pure; but to those who have been corrupted and lack faith, nothing can be pure -- the corruption is both in their minds and in their consciences.

15. To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted.

16. They claim to know God but by their works they deny him; they are outrageously rebellious and quite untrustworthy for any good work.

16. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good deed.