Titus 1

¹Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for [the] faith of God’s elect and [their] knowledge of [the] truth that leads to godliness,

²in [the] hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

³[In His] own time He has made His word {evident} in [the] proclamation entrusted to me by [the] command of God our Savior.

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

⁵The reason I left you in Crete [was] that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

⁶[An elder must] be blameless, [the] husband of but one wife, having children who are believers [and who are] not open to accusation of indiscretion or insubordination.

⁷As God’s steward, an overseer must be above reproach — not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money.

⁸Instead, [he must be] hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, [and] disciplined.

⁹He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage [others] by sound teaching and refute those who contradict [it].

¹⁰For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision,

¹¹who must be silenced. For [the] sake of dishonorable gain, [they] undermine entire households [and] teach things they should not.

¹²[As] one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans [are] always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

¹³This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sternly, so that they will be sound in the faith

¹⁴[and] will pay no attention to Jewish myths [or] [to the] commands of men who have rejected the truth.

¹⁵To the pure, all things [are] pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing [is] pure. Indeed, both their minds and [their] consciences are defiled.

¹⁶They profess to know God, but by [their] actions they deny [Him]. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.