1 Timothy 6

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Servants and masters

¹ Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of Elohim and the doctrine may not be blasphemed. ² And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but rather serve them, because those who receive the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

Godliness and contentment

³ If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, the words of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, ⁴ he is puffed up, knowing nothing, but is sick with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, ⁵ useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. ⁶ Now godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some, having coveted it, have strayed from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

The good fight of faith

¹¹ But you, O man of Elohim, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ I charge you in the sight of Elohim who gives life to all things, and before the Messiah Yeshua who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until the appearing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, ¹⁵ which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting dominion. Amen.

Instructions for the rich

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living Elohim, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. ¹⁸ Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Guard the deposit

²⁰ O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you, avoiding the profane and empty babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹ which some have professed and have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

Notes

• 6:2 "Servants" is douloi, people owned by others in the Roman household system, who made up a large part of the population of cities like Ephesus; as in Ephesians 6:5, the TRB says "servants" in these household instructions. Paul's concern is that "the name of Elohim" not be "blasphemed," words that echo Isaiah 52:5, which he quotes in Romans 2:24: "the name of Elohim is blasphemed among the nations because of you." The Torah had limited the servitude of a Hebrew to six years (Exodus 21:2), punished kidnapping with death (Exodus 21:16; see 1:10), and forbade returning an escaped slave to his master (Deuteronomy 23:15); in the Messiah, a servant and a master become "brothers" (verse 2; Philemon 1:16).
• 6:10 Paul speaks with the wisdom of the Hebrew Scriptures. Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there" (Job 1:21), and the proverb prays, "give me neither poverty nor riches" (Proverbs 30:8). "Love of money" is philargyria; Luke uses the related word for some Pharisees "who were lovers of money" (Luke 16:14), and here Paul uses it of teachers among the believers who treat godliness as "a means of gain" (verse 5). The last commandment, "You shall not covet," already reached the desire of the heart.
• 6:11 "Man of Elohim" is a title the Hebrew Scriptures give to Moses, "Moses the man of Elohim" (Deuteronomy 33:1), and to prophets such as Samuel, Elijah and Elisha (1 Samuel 9:6; 1 Kings 17:24; 2 Kings 4:9); in the Spanish of the TRB's Hebrew Scriptures it reads "varón de Elohim." Paul gives Timothy the same title, a man who belongs to Elohim and speaks for Him, and uses it again of everyone equipped by the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:17).
• 6:16 Paul's praise gathers the language of Israel's Scriptures: Yahweh is "the Elohim of gods and the Adon of lords" (Deuteronomy 10:17), He covers Himself "with light as with a garment" (Psalm 104:2), and He told Moses, "no man shall see Me and live" (Exodus 33:20). In a city where rulers were praised with divine titles, Paul gives "King of kings and Lord of lords" to the one Elohim alone.
• 6:21 "The deposit" is parathēkē, money or goods left in someone's keeping, which had to be returned whole (compare the Torah's laws on goods given for safekeeping, Exodus 22:7-13); Timothy is to keep the teaching he received without change. The Majority Text, which the TRB follows, has "From such withdraw yourself" in verse 5, "eternal life" in verse 19, and "Grace be with you" (singular) here; many modern Bibles, following some early manuscripts, omit the words of verse 5, read "the life that is truly life" in verse 19, and "with you all" (plural) here.

1 Timothy 5 · 2 Timothy 1

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