Persecutions is derived from a verb that refers to the act of organizing a systematic program of harassment and oppression. My persecutions may also be expressed as “when people persecuted me,” “when people showed their hatred toward me (or, showed how much they hated me),” or “when people caused me to undergo hard times.”
Sufferings denotes hardships in general, but in the present context it refers primarily to afflictions that Paul experienced because of persecution. It is in fact possible to restructure this part of the verse in such a way that the sufferings are identified with those hardships and difficulties that Paul experienced in the three places that he mentions (compare New Revised Standard Version “suffering the things that happened to me in…”). Such a restructuring makes clear that the sufferings are indeed results of persecutions. So one may translate “when people persecuted me, causing me to suffer greatly.”
The three places mentioned are especially significant, for these are familiar to Timothy, growing up as he did in this area. Paul visited these places during his first missionary journey (Acts 13.14–14.26; for persecutions in Antioch, see Acts 13.50; for Iconium, Acts 14.2-6; for Lystra, Acts 14.19-20. Lystra is especially significant, since it is the home town of Timothy himself (Acts 16.1-5). It seems that Paul is not simply appealing to Timothy’s emotional ties with these places, but to the firsthand knowledge Timothy has about these sufferings of Paul which became examples he followed. It is possible to restructure the first part of this verse as follows: “You know how people caused me all sorts of trouble in the cities of Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, so that I suffered terribly.”
The expression what persecutions I endured can be understood as emphatic, accenting the gravity of the persecution and the ability of Paul to endure. This understanding is reflected in Good News Translation by the use of an exclamation point (compare New Revised Standard Version “What persecutions I endured!”). For endured see verse 10 above; the word used here and in verse 10 are not the same but are closely related in meaning.
Once again Lord is ambiguous, but in the light of the usage of this word in the Pastorals, the antecedent is most probably Christ Jesus. The word for rescued refers to deliverance from severe danger. Paul of course was not rescued from the persecutions, since he went through them all. But he was rescued from the dangers that these persecutions presented, as, for instance, the danger of giving up, and especially the danger of being killed. Another translation model, then, is “But Christ Jesus rescued me from all these dangers.”
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .