2 Timothy — The Tyndale New Testament (1534)

The epistle known today as 2 Timothy in Tyndale's revised New Testament of 1534, translated from the Greek and opened, as in the print, by Tyndale's prologue to the epistle. It is printed here from the copy in the British Library as keyed by the Text Creation Partnership, in the spelling of 1534; the margin notes are given as footnotes, and the crosses ✚ and ⊢ mark where the lessons read in church begin and end.

¶ The Prologe to the seconde epist le of S. Paul vnto Timothe.

IN this epistle Paul exhorteth Timothe to goo forwarde as he had begonne / and to preache the Gospell with all diligence / as it nede was / seinge many were fallen awaye / and manye false spirites & teachers were sprōge vp all readie. Wherfore a Bysshopes parte is / euer to watche and to laboure in the Gospell.

In the thyrde and fourth he sheweth before and that notablye / of the ieopardous tyme towarde the ende of the worlde / in which a false spirituall lyuinge shuld deccaue the hole worlde with outwarde ypocresie and apparence of holynes / vnder which all abominacious shuld haue their tre passage and course / as we (alas) haue sene this prophesie of S. Paul fulfilled in oure spiritualtie vnto the vttermost Iote.

The text

Chapter 1

¶ The fyrst Chapter.

1 PAul an Apostle of Iesu Christ / by the will of God / to preache the promes of lyfe / [A] which lyfe is in Christ Iesu.

2 To Timothe his beloved sonne. Grace / mercy and peace / from God the father / & from Christ Iesu oure Lorde.

3 I thanke god / whom I serve from myne elders with pure consciēce / that with out ceasynge I make mencion of the in my prayres nyght & daye /

4 desyrynge to se the / myndfull of thy teares: so that I am filled with ioye /

5 whē I call to remembraunce the vnfayned fayth that is in the / which dwelt fyrst in thy graūmoder [L]ois / and in thy mother Eunica: and [B] am assured that it dwelleth in the also.

6 Wherfore I warne the that thou stere vp the gyfte of god which is in the / by the puttynge¹ on of my hondes.

7 For god hath not geven to vs the sprete of feare: but of power / & of love / & of sobrenes of mynde.

8 Be not a shamed² to testyfye oure lorde / nether be a shamed of me / which am bounde for his sake: but suffre adversite with yᵉ gospell also thorow yᵉ power of god /

9 which saved vs & called vs wᵗ an³ holy callinge / not acordinge to oure dedes / but [C] accordynge to his awne purpose and grace / which grace was gevē vs thorowe Christ Iesu⁴ before the worlde was /

10 but is nowe declared openly by yᵗ appearynge of oure savioure Iesu Christ / which hath put away deeth / and hath brought lyfe & immortalite vnto light thorow the gospell /

11 whervnto I am apoynted a preacher / and an Apostle / & a teacher of the gentyls:

12 for the which cause I also suffre these thinges. Neverthelesse I am not a shamed For I knowe whō I have beleved / & amsure that he is able to kepe that which I have cōmitted to his kepynge / agaynst that daye.⁵

13 Se thou have the ensample of the holsome [D] wordes which thou heardest of me in fayth & love which is in Iesu Christ.

14 That good thinge / whiche was committed to thy kepynge / kepe in yᵉ holy goost which dwelleth in vs.

15 This thou knowest / how that all they which are in Asia / be turned from me. Of which sorte are Phig⟨illegible⟩los & hermogenes.

16 The lorde geve mercie vnto the hou[s]se of Onesiphoros / for he ofte refresshed me / & was not a shamed of my chayne:

17 but when he was at Rome / he sought me out very diligently / and founde me.

18 The lorde graunt vnto him that he maye fynde mercie with the lorde at that daye. And in how many thynges he ministred vnto me at Ephesus thou knowest very wel.

Notes to Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The .ii. Chapter. ✚

1 THou therfore my sonne / be stronge in [A] the grace that is in Christ Iesu.

2 And what thynges thou hast hearde of me many bearynge witnes / the same diliver to faythfull men / which are apte to teache other

3 Thou therfore suffre affliccion as a good soudier of Iesu Christ.

4 No man that warreth / entanglith him silfe with worldely busynes / & that be cause he wolde please him that hath chosen him to be asoudier.

5 And though a man strive for a mastery / yet ys he not crouned / except he strive laufully.

6 The husbandmā that laboreth must fyrst receave of the frutes.

7 Consyder what I saye. The lorde geve the vnderstondynge in all thynges. ⊢

8 Remember that Iesus Christ beynge of [B] he sede of David / rose agayne frō deth accordynge to my gospell /

9 wherin I suffre trouble as an evyll doar / even vnto bondes. But the worde of god was not bounde.

10 Herefore I suffre all thinges / for yᵉ electes sakes / that they⁶ myght also obtayne that saluacion which is in Christ Iesu / with eternall glory.

11 It is a true sayinge / if we be deed wᵗ him /⁷ we also shall live with him.

12 Yf we be pacient / we shall also raigne wᵗ him. If we denye him / he also shall denye vs.

13 Yf we beleve not / yet abideth he faithfull. He cannot denye him silfe.

14 Of these thynges put them in remembraunce / and testifie before the lorde / that they stryve not about wordes which is to no proffet / but to pervert the hearers.

15 Study to shewe thy silfe laudable vnto [C] god a workman y[ᵗ] nedeth not to be a shamed / dividynge the worde of trueth iustly.

16 Vngostly and vayne voyces passe over. For they shall encreace vnto greater vngodlynes /

17 and their wordes shall fret even as doeth a cancre: of whose nombre ys Hymeneos and Philetos /⁸

18 which as concernynge the trueth have erred / sayinge that the resurreccion is past all redy / and do destroye the fayth of divers persones.

19 But the sure grounde of god remayneth / & hath this seale: the lorde knoweth them that are his / and let every man that calleth on the name of Christ / departe from iniquite.

20 Not withstondinge in a greate housse are not only vesselles of golde and of silver: but also of wood & of erthe / some for honoure / and some vnto dishonoure.

21 But Yf a man purdge him silfe from suche felowes / he shalbe a vessell sanctified vnto honoure / mete for the lorde and prepared vnto all good workes.

22 Lustes of youth avoyde / and folowe right [D] wesnes / fayth / love and peace / with them that call on the lorde with pure herte.

23 Folisshe & vnlearned questions put from the / remēbrynge that they do but gendre stryfe.

24 But the servaunt⁹ of the lorde must not stryve: but must be peasable vnto all men / and apte to teache / and one that can suffre: the evyll in meknes /

25 and can informe them that resist / yf that god at eny tyme will geve them repentaūce for to knowe the trueth:

26 that they maye come to thē selves agayne out of the snare of the devyll / which are now taken of him at his will.

Notes to Chapter 2

Chapter 3

¶ The .iii. Chapter.

1 THis vnderstonde / that in the last dayes¹⁰ shall come parelous tymes.

2 For the mē shalbe lovers of their awne selves / [A] coveteous / bosters / proude / cursed speakers / disobediēt to father & mother / vnthākfull / vn holy /

3 vnkinde / trucebreakers / stubborn / falceac cusars / ryatours / fearce despisers of thēwhich are good /

4 traytours / heddy / hye mynded / gredy apon volupteousnes more then the lovers of god /

5 havynge a¹¹ similitude of godly lyvynge / but have denyed the power ther of and soche abhorre.

6 Of this sorte are they which entre in to houses / and brynge into bondage wymmen laden with synne / which wemen are ledde of divers lustes /

7 ever learnynge and never able to come vnto the knowledge of the trueth.

8 As Iannes and Iambres with stode Moses / even¹² so do these resist the trueth / men they [C] are of corrupt myndes / and leawde as concernynge the fayth:

9 but they shall prevayle no lēger. For their madnes shalbe vttered vnto all men as theirs was.

10 But thou hast sene y[ᵉ] experience of my doctrine / fassion of lyuynge / purpose / fayth / longe sufferynge / love / pacience /

11 persecucions / and affliccions which happened vnto / me at Antioche / at I conium and at lystra: which persecucions I suffered paciently. And from them all the lorde delivered¹³ me.

12 Ye and all that will live godly in Christ Iesu / must suffre persecucions.

13 But the evyll men and disceavers shall wexe worsse and worsse / whill they deceave and are deceaved them selves.

14 But continue thou in the thynges which thou hast learned / which also were committed [D] vnto the seynge thou knowest of whom thou hast learned them

15 & for as moche also as thou hast knowē holy scripture of a chylde / which is able tomake the wyse vnto saluacion thorowe the fayth which ys in Christ Iesu.

16 For all¹⁴ scripture gevē by inspiracion of god / is proffitable to teache / to improve / to amende and to instruct in rightewesnes /

17 yᵗ yᵉ man of god maye be perfect & prepared vnto all good workes.

Notes to Chapter 3

Chapter 4

¶ The .iiii. Chapter.

1 I Testifie therfore before god / and before the lorde Iesu Christ / which shall iudge [A] quicke and deed at his aperynge in his kyngdom /

2 preache the worde / be fervent / be it in season or out of season. Improve / rebuke / exhorte with all longe sufferinge & doctryne.

3 For the tyme will come / when they wyll not¹⁵ suffer wholsome doctryne: but after their awne lustes shall they (whose eares ytche) gett thē an heepe of teachers /

4 & shall turne their eares [B] from y[ᵉ] trueth / & shalbe geven vnto fables.

5 But watch thou in all thynges / and suffre adversitie / and do the worke of an evangelist / fulfill thyne office vnto the vtmost.

6 For I am now redy to be offered / and the tyme of my departynge is at honde.

7 I have fought a good fight / and have fulfilled my course / and have kept the fayth.

8 From hence forth is layde vp for me a croune of rightewesnes which the lord ⟨illegible⟩that is a righteous iudge shall geve me at that daye: not to me only but vnto all them that love his commynge.

9 Make spede to come vnto me atonce.

10 For Demas hath left me & hath loved this [C] present worlde / & is departed into Tessalonica.¹⁶ Crescens is gone to Galacia / & Titus vnto Dalmacea.

11 Only Lucas is with me. Take¹⁷ Marke & bringe him with the / for he is necessary vnto me for to minister.

12 And Tichicus have I sent to Ephesus.

13 The cloke that I lefte at Troada with Carpus / whē thou commest / brynge with the / and the bokes / but specially the partchemēt.

14 Alexander the coppersmyth did me moche evyll / the lorde rewarde him accordynge to his dedes /

15 of whom be thou ware also. For he withstode oure preachynge fore.

16 At my fyrst answerynge / no man assissted me / but all forsoke me. I praye God / that it maye not be layde to their charges:

17 ✚ not withstondinge the Lorde assisted me / & strēgthed me / that by me the preachinge shuld be fulfilled to the vtmost / and that all the gentyls shuld heare. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lyon.

18 And the Lorde shall delivre me from all evyll doynge / and shall kepe me vnto his hevenly kyngdome. To whō be prayse for ever and ever. Amen. ⊢

19 Salute Prisca and Aquila / & the housholde of Onesiphorus.

20 Erastus abode at Corinthū. Trophimos I lefte at Miletum sicke.

21 Make spede to come before winter. Eubolus gretith the / and Pudes / and Linus / and Claudia / and all the brethren.

22 The Lorde Iesus Christ be with thy sprete. Grace be with you. Amen.

¶ The seconde pistle written from Rome vnto Timothe / when Paul was presented the seconde tyme vp before the Emperoure Nero.

Notes to Chapter 4

Colophon

Transcribed from The newe Testament dylygently corrected and compared with the Greke by Willyam Tindale (Antwerp: Marten Emperowr, November 1534; STC 2826), British Library copy, as keyed by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP Phase I, text A68940): keyed by Apex CoVantage from the ProQuest page images in 2005, then sampled and proofread by Judith Siefring. The TCP transcription was released into the public domain under CC0 1.0. The printed text is in the public domain.

Spelling, capitals, punctuation (including the virgule /), abbreviation marks (the macron, as in thē, and ꝭ) and the signs ¶ ✚ ⊢ ❧ are kept as printed. The only changes are these: long s (ſ) is set as s; superscript letters are set as ᵉ ᵗ ᵒ (yᵉ = the, yᵗ = that); ▪ marks a stop the transcribers could not identify; a word divided at the end of a line, with or without a printed hyphen, is joined into one word; a letter supplied from another text, as explained below, is set in square brackets; page breaks and catchwords are removed. Woodcuts and decorated initials are not reproduced, but woodcut captions are given. The margin notes are given as numbered footnotes. Printed headings are kept, including their misprints, as italic lines under the library's chapter headings. The letters [A] to [G] are the section letters printed in the margin, by which the 1534 margin references (for example "Esaie vij. c.") and the table of lessons find a passage.

The 1534 print has no verse numbers. They are supplied here from the eBible.org Tyndale New Testament (1534), a public-domain, verse-numbered electronic text of the same edition. A word-by-word alignment showed that about 97 per cent of the two texts' words are identical across the New Testament, and the remainder differ in spelling and abbreviation, with a few slips of keying in one text or the other. The paragraphs of the print give way to one paragraph per verse.

Words that the transcribers could not read are marked ⟨illegible⟩ (2 places on this page, none in the margin notes).

In the verse text of this book, 5 places that the transcribers could not read in the printed book have been supplied from the eBible.org Tyndale New Testament (1534), a later electronic transcription of Tyndale's New Testament whose transcriber is not named. Each supplied letter is set in square brackets, as in y[ᵉ] or fal[c]e, so that it can be told from a letter the transcribers read in the print. A place was supplied only where the verse alignment was exact on both sides, the eBible reading agreed letter for letter with every legible letter, and no macron could have stood in the gap. Where the small superscript letter after y was supplied, the eBible text is the only evidence for that letter.

This is an archival transcription of Tyndale's printed English, not a Good Works Translation: nothing here has been translated or modernised by the library.

🌲