complete verse (2 Timothy 2:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Timothy 2:16:

  • Uma: “Don’t you go along with those who bring/carry words that have no contents. For their teaching does not bring/carry people to make their lives holy. Their teaching actually brings/carries people farther and farther from God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Beware of foolish conversations/talk which do/does not influence us (dual) toward God. Everyone who mixes in with those conversations eventually they are increasingly influenced to sin and are far from God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Avoid the stupid kind of teaching which does not please God, for by means of that people’s lack of respect for Him will increase.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Don’t be joining in the foolish chatter that has no value in God’s estimation, because those who are doing that, they are increasingly getting-farther from him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Put far away the discussions which achieve nothing which are only of human origin. Because there’s no other outcome of that than, it can cause to go far from the will of God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Do not teach the word which is not the word of God, because that is the word which spoils the belief of people, for it is of no value.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Timothy 2:16

Avoid (Good News Translation “Keep away from”) translates a verb that appears only here and in Titus 3.9, and refers to the act of keeping oneself from being involved in something. Another way to express this is “Do not listen to.”

For godless see comments on “profane” in 1 Tim 1.9, where it refers to people. The Greek word itself refers either to a thing or a person that has no relationship or connection with God whatsoever. The verb form (that is, “to profane”) refers to the act of taking something that is dedicated to God and making it unacceptable to God. For godless chatter see comments on 1 Tim 6.20. The expression is plural, indicating not one but many occurrences of the event. Such in the expression such godless chatter represents the effort to do justice to the definite article that goes with godless chatter, which if translated literally would be awkward. However, such also may be misleading, for it may give the impression that Paul has just mentioned godless chatter in the immediately preceding verses, when in fact this is not the case. Many translations do not try to represent the definite article, but in many languages, the definite article is very important in this case. Godless chatter as in 1 Tim 6.20 may also be expressed as “worthless (or, silly) discussions that show no reverence for God.”

For here has the sense of “because,” marking the reason why godless chatter should be avoided. It will lead people into more and more ungodliness is literally “they will greatly increase ungodliness,” with “they” referring either to godless chatter or to people, with no indication of who they are. Some interpreters see irony here, since the word for “increase” can also mean “progress”; these people are therefore making progress but on a downward rather than an upward direction. An argument in favor of godless chatter as the subject is the fact that the expression is plural and is therefore the logical antecedent of “they.” An argument in favor of people as the subject is that “their” in the next verse seems to have the same antecedent as “they” in this verse, and it makes more sense to read “their” in verse 17 as referring to people rather than to godless chatter. But regardless of the conclusion we draw, what comes out rather clearly is that godless chatter affects people adversely. We therefore need to ask the question, among whom will ungodliness increase? Possible answers are: (1) people in general (compare Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version “It only leads people farther away from God”); (2) Christians; and (3) those who engage in godless chatter, particularly the false teachers, but not limited to them (compare Revised English Bible “those who indulge in it,” New American Bible, Revised “such people will become more and more godless,” Translator’s New Testament “those who practice it”). (1) seems the more likely interpretation.

Ungodliness is not the same word as godless but translates a combination of “godliness” (for which see 1 Tim 2.2) and a negative prefix. Some translations take “godliness” here to mean “religion”; for example, New Jerusalem Bible “they only lead further and further away from true religion.” Others take it in a moral and ethical sense, describing Christian behavior; for example, Revised English Bible “will stray farther and farther into godless ways,” Translator’s New Testament “go on to even worse irreverence,” Phillips “lead further and further away from Christian living.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Don’t listen to worthless (or, silly) discussions that show no reverence for God. Such talk causes people to go further away from God.

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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Timothy 2:16

2:16a

But: In Greek, this verse begins with the conjunction de, which the Berean Standard Bible translates as But (see also NET Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English). For reasons of style, many English translations such as the New International Version (2011 Revision) omit the conjunction here. The de shows the contrast that Paul was making between the positive statements in 2:15 (“Make every effort” and “the word of truth”) and the negative statement in 2:16a (“Avoid godless chatter”).

avoid: The word avoid means that Paul was warning Timothy to stay away from, and not to join in, discussions with people who did not show any evidence that they trusted in God or revered him.

irreverent, empty chatter: The Berean Standard Bible translates two words in the Greek text here as irrevertent, empty chatter. These same two words are found in 1 Timothy 6:20. In both places, the words are plural. This is significant in interpreting 2:16b. See interpretation (2) below.

irreverent: The word irreverent refers to something that is “secular,” “profane,” or “unholy,” to something that does not honor God.

empty chatter: The noun the Berean Standard Bible translates as empty chatter means “foolish, empty, idle talk,” “talk about topics that are not important or have no value.”

2:16b

which will only lead to: Paul gave Timothy two reasons why he should avoid irreverent, empty chatter. The first reason is here in 2:16b. The second reason is in 2:17a.

which will only lead to more ungodliness,: In Greek, this clause is literally “because to more they-will-increase of ungodliness.” Scholars disagree about whom the subject “they” of the verb “will increase” refers to. There are two interpretations:

(1) “they” refers to the people who talk in godless ways. Those who follow this interpretation say that this verse means that the people who chatter in ungodly ways will become more ungodly. For example, the NET Bible says:

because those occupied with it will stray further and further into ungodliness….

See also New International Version (2011 Revision), God’s Word, Revised English Bible, and most commentaries.

(2) “they” refers to the irreverent, empty chatter or discussions. Those who follow this interpretation say that this verse means that godless chatter will increase and lead people into more ungodliness. For example, the New Century Version says:

because that will lead people further away from God.

See also Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New American Standard Bible.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) as do the majority of commentaries.

more: Because this word occurs first in the clause, it has emphasis. Another way to show this emphasis in English is to translate the word as “more and more” or “even more.”

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.