Passage

2 Timothy 4.11

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

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

9. Give diligence to come shortly unto me: 10. for Demas forsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

11. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee; for he is useful to me for ministering.

But Tychicus I sent to Ephesus. 13. The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when thou comest, and the books, especially the parchments. (2 Timothy 4:9-13, ASV)

WEB

9. Be diligent to come to me soon, 10. for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

11. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13. Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come, and the books, especially the parchments. (2 Timothy 4:9-13, WEB)

KJV

9. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: 10. For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

11. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.

And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. 13. The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. (2 Timothy 4:9-13, KJV)

YLT

9. Be diligent to come unto me quickly, 10. for Demas forsook me, having loved the present age, and went on to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia,

11. Lukas only is with me; Markus having taken, bring with thyself, for he is profitable to me for ministration;

and Tychicus I sent to Ephesus; 13. the cloak that I left in Troas with Carpus, coming, bring thou and the books, especially the parchments. (2 Timothy 4:9-13, 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

"Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is useful to me for ministering."

Two historically valuable details in one verse. Luke's presence with Paul at the end supports the traditional connection between Paul's companion and the author of the third Gospel and Acts, and it sits alongside the first-person "we" sections of Acts as part of the case for that authorship.

The instruction about Mark is the more striking. Acts 15:37-39 records the sharp contention over Mark that split Paul from Barnabas, with Paul refusing to take along the man who had departed from them in Pamphylia. Here, at the end of his life, Paul asks for him by name and calls him useful. Nothing in the text narrates the reconciliation; Colossians 4:10 and Philemon 24 show Mark back in Paul's circle. The plain reading is that Paul's judgment about a younger man who had once failed was revised, and that the revision is recorded in Scripture without comment._

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.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Anonymous Gospels Objection Defeater

Concepts:

Church at Alexandria

People:

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.