1Paul, a bondman of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of the chosen of God, and the knowledge of truth according to piety, 2in hope of eternal life, which the non-lying God promised before times eternal, 3but in his own times he made known his word by preaching, which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior, 4to Titus, a genuine child according to the common faith: Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. 5I left thee behind in Crete on account of this: That thou should set in order the things lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded thee, 6if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having believing children, not with an accusation of debauchery or insubordinate. 7For the overseer must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not prone to angry, not a drunkard, not a fighter, not greedy of base gain, 8but a lover of strangers, a lover of good, serious minded, just, devout, self-controlled, 9holding firm the faithful word according to the teaching, so that he may also be able to exhort by the sound doctrine, and to correct those who contradict. 10For there are also many insubordinate men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those from circumcision, 11who must be muzzled, men who subvert whole houses, teaching things that they ought not, for sake of ugly profit. 12A certain man of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies. 13This testimony is true, because of which reason, reprove them harshly, so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not giving heed to Jewish myths, and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15Truly to 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. 16They profess to know God, but in their works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and worthless for every good work.