Paul’s last testament starts with For, which connects these three verses with what precedes, namely, the charge to Timothy to be faithful in his ministry. What Paul seems to be saying is that it is very necessary for Timothy to do his best in the ministry, because Paul won’t be there to help out. It is clear from the passage that Paul did not expect to survive his imprisonment. The older man is being called home by the Master, and the younger man must now take over and fill the space created as a result of the older man’s departure.
For already see 1 Tim 5.15. His death is not going to be postponed any longer. In this context it will mean, as in Good News Translation, “the hour has come,” or Contemporary English Version “the time has come.” However, since it does not mean that Paul will actually die in the hour or day of writing the letter, in some languages this will be expressed as “it’s near the time” or “in a short time.”
The single Greek word translated on the point of being sacrificed occurs only twice in the New Testament, here and in Phil 2.17. The language used here recalls the practice of pouring out wine in the sanctuary as a sacrifice to the Lord (see Num 28.7). Paul compares his life to that wine that is poured out. Many translations make this information explicit; for example, New English Bible “my life is being poured out on the altar,” New Revised Standard Version “I am already being poured out as a libation” (compare Jerusalem Bible), New International Version “being poured out as a drink offering,” Phillips “the last drops of my life are being poured out for God.” In languages that cannot use the figure of “life being poured out,” one may say, for example, “The time has come for me to give up my life as if it’s poured out on an altar.” If it is not possible to retain the figure of speech, then it is also possible to say “It is very close to the time when God will take me from this life.”
Departure occurs only here in the whole New Testament. It is suggested by some scholars that this figure originates from sailing and refers to the act of releasing a boat from its moorings. In various writings at that time, it was a popular euphemism for death, which is the meaning intended here (so Good News Translation “the time is here for me to leave this life”). Many translations retain the figure, perhaps because the context clearly shows what it means.
Has come translates a verb that expresses very clearly the idea that something is about to happen very shortly.
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 .