Till I come; - notes, 1 Timothy 3:14-15.
Give attendance to reading - The word here used may refer either to public or to private reading; see Act 13:15; 2 Corinthians 3:14; compare Esdr. 9:48. The more obvious interpretation here is to refer it to private reading, or to a careful perusal of those books which would qualify him for his public work. The then written portions of the sacred volume - the Old Testament - are doubtless specially intended here, but there is no reason to doubt that there were included also such other books as would be useful, to which Timothy might have access. Even those were then few in number, but Paul evidently meant that Timothy should, as far as practicable, become acquainted with them. The apostle himself, on more than one occasion, showed that he had some acquaintance with the classic writings of Greece; Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12.
To exhortation - see the notes on Romans 12:8.
To doctrine - To teaching - for so the word means; compare notes on Romans 12:7.