3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

3:2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3:3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,

3:4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--

3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

3:6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,

3:7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.

3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

3:9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

3:10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,

3:11 persecutions, sufferings--what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

3:13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,

3:15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

3:17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.