I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming, and his kingdom:†2 Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.3 For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears:†4 And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.5 But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. Be sober.6 For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand.†7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.8 As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming. Make haste to come to me quickly.
But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes. Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the church] have been persecuted and put to death. Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles... Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience.
Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands.†36 And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.37 Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them.38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.39 But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open.†40 Be you then also ready: for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)