2 Timothy 4:4

Easy-to-Read Version

People will stop listening to the truth. They will begin to follow the teaching in false stories.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.

King James Version (1611)
And they shall turne away their eares from the trueth, and shall be turned vnto fables.

King James Version
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

English Standard Version
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

New American Standard Bible
and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

New Century Version
They will stop listening to the truth and will begin to follow false stories.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

Legacy Standard Bible
and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

Berean Standard Bible
So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Contemporary English Version
They will turn from the truth and eagerly listen to senseless stories.

Complete Jewish Bible
Yes, they will stop listening to the truth, but will turn aside to follow myths.

Darby Translation
and they will turn away their ear from the truth, and will have turned aside to fables.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And shall turne their eares from the trueth, and shalbe giuen vnto fables.

George Lamsa Translation
And they will turn away their ears from the truth, and they will turn to fables.

Good News Translation
They will turn away from listening to the truth and give their attention to legends.

Lexham English Bible
and they will turn away from the hearing of the truth, but will turn to myths.

Literal Translation
and they will turn away the ear from the truth and will be turned aside to myths.

Amplified Bible
and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable].

American Standard Version
and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.

Bible in Basic English
And shutting their ears to what is true, will be turned away to belief in foolish stories.

Hebrew Names Version
and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables.

International Standard Version
They will refuse to listen to the truth and will turn to myths.1 Timothy 1:4; 4:7; Titus 1:14;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And from the truth they will turn away their ear, but to fables will decline.

Murdock Translation
and will turn away their ears from the truth, and incline after fables.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And shall turne away their hearyng from the trueth, and shalbe turned vnto fables.

English Revised Version
and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.

World English Bible
and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And they will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables.

Weymouth's New Testament
and will turn away from listening to the truth and will turn aside to fables.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And treuli thei schulen turne awei the heryng fro treuthe, but to fablis thei schulen turne.

Update Bible Version
and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they will turn away [their] ears from the truth, and will be turned to fables.

New English Translation
And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths.

New King James Version
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

New Living Translation
They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

New Life Bible
They will not listen to the truth. Instead, they will listen to stories made up by men.

New Revised Standard
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, from the truth, indeed, their ear, will they turn away, while, unto stories, they will turn themselves aside.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.

Revised Standard Version
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
and shall turne their eares from ye trueth and shalbe geven vnto fables.

Young's Literal Translation
and indeed, from the truth the hearing they shall turn away, and to the fables they shall be turned aside.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and shal turne their eares from the trueth, and shalbe geuen vnto fables.

Mace New Testament (1729)
which, while they are deaf to the truth, attentively listen to fables.

Simplified Cowboy Version
They'll trade the truth for lies.

Contextual Overview

¹ Before God and Jesus Christ, I give you a command. Christ Jesus is the one who will judge all people—those who are living and those who have died. He is coming again to rule in his kingdom. So I give you this command: ² Tell everyone God's message. Be ready at all times to do whatever is needed. Tell people what they need to do, tell them when they are doing wrong, and encourage them. Do this with great patience and careful teaching. ³ The time will come when people will not listen to the true teaching. But people will find more and more teachers who please them. They will find teachers who say what they want to hear. ⁴ People will stop listening to the truth. They will begin to follow the teaching in false stories. ⁵ But you should control yourself at all times. When troubles come, accept them. Do the work of telling the Good News. Do all the duties of a servant of God. ⁶ My life is being given as an offering for God. The time has come for me to leave this life here. ⁷ I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have served the Lord faithfully. ⁸ Now, a prize is waiting for me—the crown that will show I am right with God. The Lord, the judge who judges rightly, will give it to me on that Day. Yes, he will give it to me and to everyone else who is eagerly looking forward to his coming.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

turn: 2 Timothy 1:15, Proverbs 1:32, Zechariah 7:11, Acts 7:57, Hebrews 13:25

unto: 1 Timothy 1:4, 1 Timothy 4:7, Titus 1:14, 2 Peter 1:16

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 13:5 - turn you Deuteronomy 30:17 - heart 1 Kings 18:22 - Baal's prophets Job 21:14 - for we Psalms 50:17 - hatest Proverbs 17:4 - General Proverbs 28:9 - turneth Ecclesiastes 9:18 - sinner Jeremiah 5:31 - my people Jeremiah 27:15 - that I Matthew 13:15 - ears Matthew 13:47 - and gathered Matthew 18:7 - for Luke 14:18 - I have John 8:45 - General Acts 20:30 - of your 1 Corinthians 14:38 - General 2 Corinthians 2:17 - which 2 Corinthians 11:3 - so 2 Corinthians 11:13 - false Galatians 1:7 - pervert Philippians 3:2 - evil 2 Thessalonians 2:3 - except 1 Timothy 1:19 - concerning 1 Timothy 4:1 - depart 2 Timothy 3:7 - learning Titus 1:10 - there Hebrews 12:25 - turn away 1 John 2:18 - ye have

Cross-References

Genesis 4:16
Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod.

Genesis 4:17
Cain had sexual relations with his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Enoch. Cain built a city and gave the city the same name as his son Enoch.

Genesis 4:19
Lamech married two women. One wife was named Adah, and the other was named Zillah.

Genesis 4:20
Adah gave birth to Jabal. Jabal was the father of people who live in tents and earn their living by keeping cattle.

Genesis 15:17
After the sun went down, it got very dark. The dead animals were still on the ground, each animal cut into two pieces. Then a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the dead animals.

Exodus 13:12
you must remember to give the Lord every firstborn boy. And every male animal that is the firstborn must also be given to the Lord .

Leviticus 9:24
Fire came out from the Lord and burned the burnt offering and fat on the altar. When all the people saw this, they shouted with joy and then bowed to the ground to show their respect.

Numbers 16:35
Then a fire came from the Lord and destroyed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

Numbers 18:12
"And I give you all the best olive oil and all the best new wine and grain. These are the things that the Israelites give to me, the Lord . These are the first things that they gather in their harvest.

Numbers 18:17
"But you must not make a payment for the firstborn cow, sheep, or goat. These animals are holy. Sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord .

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth,.... The solid truths of the Gospel, not being able to bear the hearing of them:

and shall be turned unto fables; things idle, trifling, useless, and, unprofitable; and which are no better than old wives' fables; some respect may be had either to Jewish fables, or to the miraculous mythologies of the Gentiles, or of the Gnostics, and others: but in general, it includes everything that is vain, empty, and senseless; and this is to be considered as a just judgment upon them; that since they like not to retain the knowledge of the truth, but turn away their ears from it, God gives them up to a reprobate mind, a mind void of sense and judgment, to attend to things idle and fabulous.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth - That is, the people themselves will turn away from the truth. It does not mean that the teachers would turn them away by the influence of their instructions.

And shall be turned unto fables; - See the notes at 1 Timothy 1:4.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Timothy 4:4. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth — The truth strips them of their vices, sacrifices their idols, darts its lightnings against their easily besetting sins, and absolutely requires a conformity to a crucified Christ; therefore they turn their ears away from it.

And shall be turned unto fables. — Believe any kind of stuff and nonsense; for, as one has justly observed, "Those who reject the truth are abandoned by the just judgment of God to credit the most degrading nonsense." This is remarkably the case with most deists; their creed often exhibits what is grossly absurd.