ITim UDB from Forest Deal by Tom Warren

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-\v 1-2 I, Paul, am writing this to Timothy. God our Savior and Christ Jesus are those in whom we have confidence for the future, and Christ commanded me to be an apostle. You became a Christian when I told you about Jesus Christ, and you are my true son in the Lord. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord be kind to you, have mercy upon you, and give you peace.
+\v 1-2 I, Paul, who was selected to become an apostle of Christ Jesus and by his command I am now serving him. I am writing this to you Timothy—and you are like a son to me: I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ would be kind and merciful to you and that he would give you his peace.
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 \v 3 The reason that I urged you to remain in Ephesus while I traveled to Macedonia was so that you would command certain men not to teach what is different from what we teach.
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 \v 9 We know that the law is not made to control good people, but to control rebellious people and those who do not honor God, for sinners, and disrespectful persons, for murderers and for those who even murder their own parents.
-\v 10 It is made also to control homosexuals and all people who practice improper sexual behavior, to control those who steal others and sell them as slaves, to control liars and false witnesses in courts of law, and to stop whatever is different from our good and healthy teaching.
+\v 10 The law condemns those who practice improper sexual relations, including those who practice homosexuality. It condemns those who steal from other people, and those who take away people and sell them as slaves. The law defines what truth is and what lies are, and it gives punishment for those who lie. The law describes the punishment for those who give false witness before a court. The law is also given to test what is good teaching or bad teaching God, so you will know the difference.
 \v 11 All of this agrees with the wonderful good news that God, whom we praise, has taught us, and that he trusts me to announce to others.
 
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 \v 12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, because he gave me the strength to serve him. He also relies on me to serve him.
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-\v 13 In past times, I insulted and persecuted the believers. I did violent deeds, but God had mercy on me because I did not believe, and I did not know what I was doing.
-\v 14 God was extremely kind to me, for he made me able to believe in Christ Jesus and love him because he united me to him.
+\v 13 Not too long ago, I had insulted and persecuted those who believed in Christ. I acted with terrible violence against them, but God had mercy on me. At that time I did not know the truth of the Gospel and I did not believe that Christ was the Savior. 
+\v 14 God showed me his love, a wonderful love that I did not deserve, and he made me able to trust in Christ as my Savior and love him because of the love that was in Christ.
 
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 \v 18 Timothy, my child, I command you: Remember what certain believers prophesied about you. Do this in order to follow those things as you work hard for the Lord.
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 \v 19 Trust God and keep a good conscience. Some people have not paid attention to their own consciences. So what has happened to their faith is a disaster.
 \v 20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are two men like this. I have handed them over to Satan for him to attack them, so that they may learn not to insult God.
 
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 \v 5 The truth is this, that there is one God, and there is only one person who can make us acceptable to him. Christ Jesus, the man, is this one person.
-\v 6 He gave himself to set all people free—and that was the proof of what God was doing through Christ's death.
+\v 6 Christ went to the cross to take our sins away and to set us free—and this was the proof of what God had done at just the right time.
 \v 7 To declare this truth, God made me a messenger and an apostle. I speak the truth; I am not lying. I teach the Gentiles the things that they should truly believe.
 
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 \v 8 Therefore, I want men everywhere to pray and to lift up their hands to God in a way that he will accept. Believers should not pray to show anger or doubt about God.
-\v 9 I also want the women to dress themselves carefully. They should control themselves so that they do not dress to show themselves off to others. Instead of braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive clothing,
-\v 10 women should dress themselves in what is right for women who do good works and who say that they honor God.
+\v 9 I also want women to dress themselves carefully. They should control themselves so that they do not dress to show themselves off to others. Instead of having braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive clothing,
+\v 10 they should dress themselves in what is right for women who do good works and who want to honor God.
 
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 \v 11 When men are teaching the believers, women should listen quietly, and they should give respect to their teachers and do all they can to learn from them.
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 \v 2 These people will say one thing but do any evil thing they wish, as if a hot iron had burned and ruined their minds.
 
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-\v 3 They will try to stop believers from marrying. They will tell them not to eat certain things, even though God has created them, so that believers who have come to know the truth can share them with each other while thanking God for them.
+\v 3 They will try to stop believers from marrying. They will tell them not to eat certain things, even though God has created them so that believers who have come to know the truth can share them with each other while thanking God for them.
 \v 4 I say this because everything that God has made is good. We reject nothing that we receive from God while thanking him for it.
 \v 5 For by praying to God and by believing his word we set it apart for him.
 
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-\v 6 If you keep speaking this truth to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ. You will serve him well, because the message that we believe is strengthening you, as the good things God has taught you and that you have followed.
+\v 6 If you keep speaking this truth to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ. You will serve him well because the message that we believe is strengthening you, as the good things that God has taught you and that you have followed.
 \v 7 But do not listen to the things that mean nothing and to the stories that only old women tell. Instead, train yourself to honor God.
 \v 8 Physical exercise helps only a little, but if you honor God, this will help you with everything as you live now on earth and as you live in the future with God.
 
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 \v 1 Do not speak harshly to a man older than yourself. Instead, encourage him as if he were your father. Do the same to younger men as if they were your brothers.
 \v 2 Encourage older women as mothers, and younger women as if they were your sisters. Act toward them in a way that no one can criticize.
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 \v 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should honor their mother at home and pay her back for everything she has done for them. If they do this, they will please God.
 
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-\v 5 Now, a real widow is a widow who has no family members. So she depends on God and on what he gives her when she asks him and prays to him all day and night long.
-\v 6 But a widow who lives for how she can please herself is dead, even though she is still alive.
+\v 5 The widow who has many needs she cannot meet depends on God. She continues to ask him and prays to him all day and night long that he might meet her needs.
+\v 6 But a widow who lives for how she can please herself is dead even though she is still alive.
 
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 \v 7 You should announce these things so that these widows and their families will not do anything wrong.
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-\v 9 Put a woman on the list of true widows if she is more than sixty years old. She also must have had only one husband, to whom she had been faithful.
-\v 10 People must know that she does good deeds: Perhaps she takes care of children; perhaps she welcomes strangers; perhaps she helps the believers or people who are suffering; or perhaps she is known for doing a large variety of good things.
+\v 9 Do not put a woman on the list of those who are helped by the church if they are under the age of sixty years old, and if she had been the wife of only one husband.
+\v 10 People must know that she does good deeds. Perhaps she takes care of children, welcomes strangers, helps the believers, cares for people who are suffering, or she is known for doing a lot of good works.
 
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 \v 11 But do not put younger widows on the widows' list, because they often want to marry again when they change their minds and put married love ahead of Christ.
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 \v 16 If any believing woman has widows among her relatives, let her help them, so those widows will not be a burden to the church. In this way the church will be able to help real widows.
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-\v 17 Let the believers give double honor to the elders who lead them well, and especially to the elders who preach and teach God's word.
+\v 17 Let the believers give double honor to the elders who lead them well, especially to the elders who preach and teach God's word.
 
 \v 18 For the scripture says, "You shall not keep the ox from eating the grain that he is treading out" and "The laborer deserves to get his pay."
 
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-\v 19 Do not listen to anyone who accuses an elder of doing wrong, unless two or three people are testifying about the matter.
+\v 19 Do not listen to anyone who accuses an elder of doing wrong unless two or three people are testifying about the matter.
 \v 20 Those who continue to sin, correct them where everyone can see you, so that the rest of the people will be afraid to sin.
 
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 \v 1 As for believers who are slaves, they should honor their masters in every way, so that no one will insult God or what we teach.
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 \v 2 Slaves who have believing masters should not respect them less, for they are brothers. Instead, they should serve their masters even better, because the masters whom they serve are their brothers whom they should love. Teach and announce these things to the believers.
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 \v 3 If anyone teaches false doctrines that do not agree with the reliable and true teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ,
-\v 4 that person is very proud and does not understand anything. They want to argue about unimportant matters and about certain words, and people who listen to them envy others. They quarrel with others and with one another. They say bad things about others. They suspect that others have evil motives.
-\v 5 Their whole way of thinking has become completely wrong because they have rejected true things. As a result, they make the mistake of thinking that by doing religious things they will get a lot of money.
+\v 4 that person is very proud and does not understand anything. He wants to argue about unimportant matters and about certain words that results in jealousy and disagreements, unkind words, and evil motives.
+\v 5 His whole way of thinking has become completely wrong because he has rejected true things. As a result, he makes the mistake of thinking that by doing religious things he will get a lot of money.
 
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  \v 8 So if we have food and clothing, we should be satisfied with these.
 
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-\v 9 But some people strongly desire to be rich. As a result, they do wrong things to get money, and this will cause them to be caught as animals get caught in traps. They foolishly desire many things, and so they get hurt. God will completely destroy them!
+\v 9 But some people strongly desire to be rich. As a result, they do wrong things to get money and this will cause them to be caught as animals get caught in traps. They foolishly desire many things, and so they get hurt. God will completely destroy them!
 \v 10 People do all sorts of evil things when they want to have a lot of money. Because some people longed for money, they have stopped believing the truth that all of us believe and they have caused themselves to be very sorrowful.
 
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