Passage

2 Timothy 2.2

Book: 2 Timothy · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2. And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4. No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. (2 Timothy 2:1-4, ASV)

WEB

You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2. The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

You therefore must endure hardship, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4. No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. (2 Timothy 2:1-4, WEB)

KJV

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. ^{among: or, by}

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (2 Timothy 2:1-4, KJV)

YLT

Thou, therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that [is] in Christ Jesus,

2. and the things that thou didst hear from me through many witnesses, these things be committing to stedfast men, who shall be sufficient also others to teach;

thou, therefore, suffer evil as a good soldier of Jesus Christ; 4. no one serving as a soldier did entangle himself with the affairs of life, that him who did enlist him he may please; (2 Timothy 2:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, writing under his own name
Audience: Timothy, Paul's delegate at Ephesus
Location: written from imprisonment at Rome to Timothy at Ephesus
Time period: c. AD 64-67, traditionally Paul's last letter, written from a second Roman imprisonment shortly before his execution

Theological reading

Four links in one sentence: Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others also. It is the New Testament's clearest statement of deliberate succession in teaching, and it is worth noting what kind of succession it is. What passes down is a message, "the things which thou hast heard from me," and the qualification for receiving it is faithfulness and competence to teach, not office or lineage.

"Among many witnesses" is a legal touch. The content was delivered publicly and can be checked against multiple people who heard it, which is a safeguard against private tradition. The verse is regularly cited on both sides of the Scripture-and-tradition question, and honestly it establishes the reality of an authoritative oral transmission alongside the letters without settling what happens when a later tradition conflicts with the written deposit._

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

Concepts:

People:

Paul the Apostle

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.