Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
Ver. 4. Endless genealogies] It is but laborious loss of time to search into those things, whereof we can neither have proof nor profit; the gains will not pay for the pains, the task is not worthy the toil. Toilsome toys they are, hard to come by, but of no use or worth; like an olive or date stone, hard to crack the one, or cleave the other; but nothing, or nothing worth aught, when cracked or cloven, within either. The shell fish among the Jews was counted unclean, because it had but a little meat, and a great deal of labour to get it.