Chapter 2

A Call to Prayer

¹First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone—²for kings and all those in authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. ³This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

⁵For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave Himself as a ransom for all—the testimony that was given at just the right time.

⁷For this reason I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the Gentiles. I am telling the truth; I am not lying about anything. ⁸Therefore I want the men everywhere^a to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.

Instructions to Women

⁹Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, ¹⁰but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess to worship God.

¹¹A woman^b must learn in quietness and full submissiveness. ¹²I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man;^c she is to remain quiet. ¹³For Adam was formed first, and then Eve. ¹⁴And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression. ¹⁵Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.