2 Timothy 2:4
New International Version
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.

New Living Translation
Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them.

English Standard Version
No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

Berean Standard Bible
A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him.

Berean Literal Bible
No one serving as a soldier entangles himself in the affairs of this life, that he might please the one having enlisted him.

King James Bible
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

New King James Version
No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

New American Standard Bible
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him.

NASB 1995
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

NASB 1977
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

Legacy Standard Bible
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

Amplified Bible
No soldier in active service gets entangled in the [ordinary business] affairs of civilian life; [he avoids them] so that he may please the one who enlisted him to serve.

Christian Standard Bible
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the recruiter.

American Standard Version
No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Is not a Soldier bound in matters of the world to please him who has chosen him?

Contemporary English Version
Soldiers on duty don't work at outside jobs. They try only to please their commanding officer.

Douay-Rheims Bible
No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; that he may please him to whom he hath engaged himself.

English Revised Version
No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Whoever serves in the military doesn't get mixed up in non-military activities. This pleases his commanding officer.

Good News Translation
A soldier on active duty wants to please his commanding officer and so does not get mixed up in the affairs of civilian life.

International Standard Version
No one serving in the military gets mixed up in civilian matters, for his aim is to please his commanding officer.

Literal Standard Version
no one serving as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of life, that he may please him who enlisted him;

Majority Standard Bible
A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him.

New American Bible
To satisfy the one who recruited him, a soldier does not become entangled in the business affairs of life.

NET Bible
No one in military service gets entangled in matters of everyday life; otherwise he will not please the one who recruited him.

New Revised Standard Version
No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer.

New Heart English Bible
No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

Webster's Bible Translation
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Weymouth New Testament
Every one who serves as a soldier keeps himself from becoming entangled in the world's business--so that he may satisfy the officer who enlisted him.

World English Bible
No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

Young's Literal Translation
no one serving as a soldier did entangle himself with the affairs of life, that him who did enlist him he may please;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Grace and Perseverance
3Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him. 5Likewise, a competitor does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules.…

Cross References
Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.

2 Peter 2:20
If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.


Treasury of Scripture

No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier.

that warreth.

Deuteronomy 20:5-7
And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it…

Luke 9:59-62
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father…

entangleth.

2 Timothy 4:10
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

Luke 8:14
And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

1 Corinthians 9:25,26
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible…

that he.

1 Corinthians 7:22,23
For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant…

2 Corinthians 5:9
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

1 Thessalonians 2:4
But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

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Active Affairs Aim Army Business Chosen Commanding Duty Enrolled Entangled Entangles Fighting Free Gets Involved Keeps Life Officer Please Pleasing Pursuits Satisfy Serves Service Serving Soldier Wants World's
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2 Timothy 2
1. Timothy is exhorted again to constancy and perseverance.
17. Of Hymenaeus and Philetus.
19. The foundation of the Lord is sure.
22. He is taught whereof to beware, and what to follow after.














(4) No man that warreth . . .--Better rendered, while engaged on military service, or serving as a soldier. The first picture is suggested by the last simile (in 2Timothy 2:3). It was one very familiar to the numerous peoples dwelling under the shadow of the Roman power, this picture of the soldier concerned only in the military affairs of the great empire--the legionary wrapped up in his service, with no thought or care outside the profession of which he was so proud. None of these sworn legionaries have aught to do with buying or selling, with the Forum, or any of the many employments of civil life. So should it be with the earnest and faithful Christian; paramount and above any earthly considerations ever must rank his Master's service, his Master's commands.

The soldier of Christ should never allow himself to be entangled in any earthly business which would interfere with his duty to his own General. But while this general reference to all members of the Church lies on the outside, beneath the surface a solemn injunction may surely be read, addressed to Timothy and to others like him in after times specially engaged in the ministry of the Word and in matters connected with the government of the Church of Christ. And so the Catholic Church has generally understood this direction to Timothy as warning her ministers from engaging in secular pursuits, either connected with business or pleasure.

That he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.--More accurately rendered, who enrolled him as a soldier. Only those soldiers who with heart and soul devote themselves to their military work win the heart of their commander. The question has been asked, What of St. Paul's own example and that of other of the early Christian teachers, such as Aquila? did not they, at all events from time to time, pursue a secular calling--that of tent-makers? The reply here is not a difficult one. The Jewish life in those days contemplated and even desired that its rabbis and teachers should be acquainted with, and even, if necessary, practise some handicraft. The well-known Hebrew saying, "He that teacheth not his son a trade teacheth him to be a thief," is a proof of this. In the case of these early teachers, this occasional practice of an industry or a trade brought them more directly into contact with their Jewish brethren. It was thus among the Jewish people that the Hebrew rabbi often passed imperceptibly into a Christian teacher. It must also be borne in mind that in St. Paul's case, and also in the case of the presbyters of the first and second age, especially if missionaries, it was impossible always to ensure subsistence, unless by some exertions of their own they maintained themselves. It was, too, most desirable that these pioneers of Christianity should ever be above all reproach of covetousness, or even of the suspicion that they wished for any earthly thing from their converts. That however, it was not intended that any such combination of work--at once for the Church and for the world--should be the rule of ecclesiastical order in coming days, the positive and very plain directions of 1Corinthians 9:1-15 are decisive, and incapable of being misunderstood.

Verse 4. - Soldier on service for man that warreth, A.V.; in for with, A.V.; enrolled him as for hath chosen him to be, A.V. Soldier on service (στρατευόμενος); as 1 Corinthians 9:7 (see, too. 1 Timothy 1:18). In Luke 3:14 στρατευόμενοι is rendered simply "soldiers," with margin, "Greek, soldiers on service." There is no difference in meaning between the "man that warreth" in the A.V., and the "soldier on service" of the R.V. Affairs (πραγματείσις); only here in the New Testament, but common in the LXX. and in classical Greek, where it means, as here, "business," "affairs," "occupation," "trade," and the like, with the accessory idea of its being an "absorbing, engrossing pursuit." Enrolled him, etc. (στρατολογήσαντι); only here in the New Testament, not found in the LXX., but common in classical Greek for "to levy an army," "to enlist soldiers." The great lesson here taught is that the warfare of the Christian soldier requires the same concentration of purpose as that of the earthly warrior, if he would win the victory.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
A soldier
στρατευόμενος (strateuomenos)
Verb - Present Participle Middle - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4754: To wage war, fight, serve as a soldier; fig: of the warring lusts against the soul.

refrains from
οὐδεὶς (oudeis)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3762: No one, none, nothing.

entangling himself
ἐμπλέκεται (empleketai)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1707: To enfold, entangle; pass: To be involved in. From en and pleko; to entwine, i.e. involve with.

in
ταῖς (tais)
Article - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

[civilian]
βίου (biou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 979: A primary word; life, i.e. the present state of existence; by implication, the means of livelihood.

affairs,
πραγματείαις (pragmateiais)
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 4230: A business, an occupation, affair, transaction. From pragmateuomai; a transaction, i.e. Negotiation.

in order
ἵνα (hina)
Conjunction
Strong's 2443: In order that, so that. Probably from the same as the former part of heautou; in order that.

to please
ἀρέσῃ (aresē)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 700: To please, with the idea of willing service rendered to others; hence almost: I serve. Probably from airo; to be agreeable.

the [one who]
τῷ (tō)
Article - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

enlisted him.
στρατολογήσαντι (stratologēsanti)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4758: To collect an army, enlist troops. From a compound of the base of stratia and lego; to gather as a warrior, i.e. Enlist in the army.


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NT Letters: 2 Timothy 2:4 No soldier on duty entangles himself (2 Tim. 2Ti iiTi ii Tim)
2 Timothy 2:3
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