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¹Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further 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 does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, ³and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
⁴To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good

⁵The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint⚓ elders in every town, as I directed you. ⁶An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe⚓ and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. ⁷Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. ⁸Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. ⁹He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good

¹⁰For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. ¹¹They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. ¹²One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”⚓ ¹³This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith ¹⁴and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. ¹⁵To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. ¹⁶They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

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¹Kuv yog Povlauj, yog Vaajtswv tug qhev hab yog Yexu Kheto tug tubkhai kws paab cov kws Vaajtswv xaiv ca lawd txujkev ntseeg hab paab puab paub qhov tseeb kws lawv le Vaajtswv txujkev, ²puab txhad muaj vaam tas yuav tau txujsa ib txhws tsw kawg kws Vaajtswv tug tsw txawj daag tau cog lug tseg thaus chiv keeb lug lawm. ³Thaus txug lub swjhawm kws teem ca Vaajtswv ua nwg txujlug tshwm lug ntawm tej lug kws muab cob rua kuv tshaaj tawm lawv le Vaajtswv kws yog peb tug Cawmseej nkaw lug ca. ⁴Kuv has moog rua Titau kws yog kuv tug tseem tub kws ntseeg ib yaam le kuv. Thov txujkev hlub hab txujkev sab tug ntawm Vaajtswv kws yog leej Txwv hab ntawm Yexu Kheto kws yog peb tug Cawmseej nrug nraim koj.

Titau teg num huv Khete

⁵Qhov kws kuv tso koj tseg rua huv koog povtxwv Khete hov kuj yog ca koj daws tej teeb meem kuas tav huvsw hab tsaa kuas muaj cov kws saib pawg ntseeg rua huv txhua lub moos lawv le kuv has rua koj.
⁶Tug kws saib pawg ntseeg yuav tsum yog tug kws tsw muaj chaw thuaj, muaj ib tug quaspuj hab nwg cov mivnyuas kuj ntseeg tsw raug luas xyaav tas yog tuabneeg loj leeb tuabneeg tawv ncauj. ⁷Vem tas tug saib pawg ntseeg⚓ yog tug kws leg Vaajtswv teg num yuav tsum yog tug kws tsw muaj chaw thuaj, tsw khaav theeb, tsw chim sai, tsw qaug dej qaug cawv, tsw ua nruj ua tswv, tsw xob ua lub sab hlub yuav ntau, ⁸zoo sab txais qhua, nyam qhov zoo, xyuam xwm, ncaaj nceeg, dawb huv hab txawj tswj nwg lub sab. ⁹Hab nwg yuav tsum tuav rawv tej lug qha kws tso sab tau lawv le kws qha lawd, sub nwg txhad swv tej lug qha raug cai txhawb sab hab caav yeej cov kws tawm tsaam tej lug hov.
¹⁰Tsua qhov muaj tuabneeg coob coob kws tawv ncauj, tsuas yog has tej lug tsw muaj qaabhau hab daag ntxag xwb, feem coob yog cov kws qha kuas ua kevcai txav. ¹¹Yuav tsum kuas puab tswj puab lub qhov ncauj vem puab qha tej kws tsw tswm nyog qha sub txhad tau tshaaj thawj, ua rua tej tsev tuabneeg ntxhuv taag nrho. ¹²Huv puab cov hov muaj ib tug cev lug txeev has tas, “Cov tuabneeg Khete pheej daag ntxag, puab yog tsaj qus phem, hab cis nkeeg noj luj.” ¹³Tej lug timkhawv nuav muaj tseeb. Vem le nuav koj ca le ntuag puab nyaav sub puab txhad le ntseeg raug cai, ¹⁴tsw quav ntsej cov Yutai tej lug nruag lossws tej lug nkaw kws cov tuabneeg kws tub tso txujkev tseeb tseg lawd qha mej.
¹⁵Txhua yaam kuj dawb huv rua cov tuabneeg kws lub sab dawb huv, tassws tsw muaj ib yaam dawb huv rua cov tuabneeg phem hab tsw ntseeg. Puab tej kev xaav hab puab lub sab kws paub qhov zoo qhov phem kuj phem taag huvsw. ¹⁶Puab has tas puab paub Vaajtswv tassws qhov kws puab ua, puab tsw leeg yuav Vaajtswv. Puab yog tuabneeg ntxwm ntxub, tsw noog lug, tsw phim ua ib yaam num zoo hlo le.