2 Timothy 1:4 (DBY)

Passage

earnestly desiring to see thee, remembering thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;

Nearby Context

2 Timothy 1:2 to Timotheus, [my] beloved child: grace, mercy, peace, from God [the] Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:3 I am thankful to God, whom I serve from [my] forefathers with pure conscience, how unceasingly I have the remembrance of thee in my supplications night and day,

2 Timothy 1:4 earnestly desiring to see thee, remembering thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;

2 Timothy 1:5 calling to mind the unfeigned faith which [has been] in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also.

2 Timothy 1:6 For which cause I put thee in mind to rekindle the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "earnestly", "desiring", "thee", "remembering", "tears", and "filled". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "earnestly" and "desiring", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "I am thankful to God whom I..." into verse 5's "calling to mind the unfeigned faith which...", so "earnestly" and "desiring" belong inside that flow. In 2 Timothy context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "earnestly" and "desiring" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.