1 P aul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

2 i n hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;

3 b ut in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior;

4 t o Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

5 I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you;

6 i f anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.

7 F or the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

8 b ut given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled;

9 h olding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.

10 F or there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,

11 w hose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake.

12 O ne of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.”

13 T his testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

14 n ot paying attention to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

15 T o the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.

16 T hey profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.