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2 Timothy 3 · a question people ask

"Every Scripture is God-breathed" (3:16). What does God-breathed mean?

In the text

The verse says, "Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness," (3:16). Behind God-breathed is one Greek word, which Strong's gives as "divinely breathed in" (tap God-breathed). The letter says this of every Scripture, and goes on to say what every Scripture is profitable for and, in the next verse, to what end (3:17). It doesn't say how God breathed it, and these notes add nothing to its words.

The verses

“Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Timothy 3

2 Timothy 3: God-breathed

The word behind God-breathed stands in the New Testament only once, in 2 Timothy 3:16, and the next verse says to what end: "that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (3:17).

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions