Titus

BLB^{(i) 1} Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of the elect of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, ² in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time eternal ³ and in His own seasons revealed in His word, in the proclamation with which I have been entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior. ⁴ To Titus, my true child according to our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. ⁵ On account of this I left you in Crete, that you might set in order the things lacking and might appoint elders in every town, as I directed you, ⁶ if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having believing children, not under accusation of debauchery, or insubordinate. ⁷ For it behooves the overseer to be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not quick tempered, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy of base gain, ⁸ but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined; ⁹ holding to the faithful word according to the teaching, that he may be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to convict those contradicting it. ¹⁰ For there are also many insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹ whom it is necessary to silence, who overthrow whole households, teaching things that they ought not for the sake of base gain. ¹² One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true, for which cause rebuke them severely, so that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not giving heed to Jewish myths and the commandments of men turning away from the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure all things are pure; but to those being defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Instead, both their mind and conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but in their works they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and unfit for any good work.