For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I assigned you:

Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and ministers:

This is a faithful saying: If a man aspires to the position of an overseer, he desires a good work.

An overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober- minded, well ordered, hospitable, able to teach;

one who rules his own house well, having his children in subjection with all respect

not a new convert, that he not be puffed up with pride and fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,

But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.

Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made administrator over his household, to give them food in due season?

And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his servants, to give them their portion of food at the right time?

Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Let not my soul enter their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they have hamstrung an ox.

and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries.

One who is short-tempered acts foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated.

A wrathful man stirs up strife, but one who is slow to anger calms the dispute.

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Do not be hasty in your spirit to be angry; for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

for the wrath of man does not bring about the righteousness of God.

the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

Do not drink wine or strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, that you not die. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations,

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink;

lest they drink, and forget the Law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink have gone astray. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up by wine; they have gone astray through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

They say, Come, let us get wine and binge on strong drink; and tomorrow shall be like today; much more abundant.

No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is debauchery; but be filled by the Spirit,

not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for money, but fair-minded, not quarrelsome, not loving money;

Besides, a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,

in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance unto a full true knowledge of the truth,

His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs who cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

Yea, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, to his own end.

not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for money, but fair-minded, not quarrelsome, not loving money;

Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not eager for dishonest gain but with a ready mind;