1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5

Contemporary English Version

Paul Wants To Visit the Church Again

¹⁷ My friends, we were kept from coming to you for a while, but we never stopped thinking about you. We were eager to see you and tried our best to visit you in person. ¹⁸ We really wanted to come. I myself tried several times, but Satan always stopped us. ¹⁹ After all, when the Lord Jesus appears, who else but you will give us hope and joy and be like a glorious crown for us? ²⁰ You alone are our glory and joy!

3 ^(A) Finally, we couldn't stand it any longer. We decided to stay in Athens by ourselves ² and send our friend Timothy to you. He works with us as God's servant and preaches the good news about Christ. We wanted him to make you strong in your faith and to encourage you. ³ We didn't want any of you to be discouraged by all these troubles. You knew we would have to suffer, ⁴ because when we were with you, we told you this would happen. And we did suffer, as you well know. ⁵ At last, when I could not wait any longer, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith. I hoped Satan had not tempted you and made all our work useless.