Letters to the Churches

only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, because he is a very useful helper in my work.

But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.

When you come, bring the coat which I left with Carpus in Troas, also the scrolls and especially the parchments.

Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm; the Lord will render to him according to his works;

and you should guard against him, because he bitterly opposed everything we said.

The first time I had to present my defense, no one stood by me; everyone deserted me — may it not be counted against them.

But the Lord stood by me and gave me power to proclaim the full message for all the Goyim to hear, and I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.

The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.

Erastus has remained in Corinth, and Trophimus I left ill at Miletus.

Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers.

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

From: Sha’ul, God’s slave and an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, sent to promote among God’s chosen people the trust and knowledge of truth which lead to godliness

and which are based on the certain hope of eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised that life before the beginning of time

but made public this word of his in its own season through a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by order of God, our Deliverer.

To: Titus, a true son in the faith we share: Grace and shalom from God the Father and from the Messiah Yeshua, our Deliverer.

The reason I left you in Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and appoint congregation leaders in each city — those were my instructions.

A leader must be blameless, husband to one wife, with believing children who do not have a reputation for being wild or rebellious.

For an overseer, as someone entrusted with God’s affairs, must be blameless — he must not be self-willed or quick-tempered, he must not drink excessively, get into fights or be greedy for dishonest gain.

On the contrary, he must be hospitable, devoted to good, sober-mindedness, uprightness, holiness and self-control.

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy Message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.

For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people’s minds with their worthless and misleading talk.

They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain.

Even one of the Cretans’ own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” —

and it’s true! For this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust