2 Timothy 4:4 (DBY)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

2 Timothy 4:2 proclaim the word; be urgent in season [and] out of season, convict, rebuke, encourage, with all longsuffering and doctrine.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time shall be when they will not bear sound teaching; but according to their own lusts will heap up to themselves teachers, having an itching ear;

2 Timothy 4:4 and they will turn away their ear from the truth, and will have turned aside to fables.

2 Timothy 4:5 But *thou*, be sober in all things, bear evils, do [the] work of an evangelist, fill up the full measure of thy ministry.

2 Timothy 4:6 For *I* am already being poured out, and the time of my release is come.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "turn", "away", "truth", "turned", "aside", and "fables". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "turn" and "away", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "For the time shall be when they..." into verse 5's "But thou be sober in all things...", so "turn" and "away" 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 "turn" and "away" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.