Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the ^(B)Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

^(C)Grace to you and peace.

The Thessalonians' Faith and Example

^2 (D)We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly^{[a] (E)}mentioning you in our prayers, ³ remembering before ^(F)our God and Father ^(G)your work of faith and labor of ^(H)love and ^(I)steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we know, ^(J)brothers^[b] loved by God, ^(K)that he has chosen you, ⁵ because ^(L)our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and ^(M)in the Holy Spirit and with full ^(N)conviction. You know ^(O)what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. ⁶ And ^(P)you became imitators of us ^(Q)and of the Lord, for ^(R)you received the word in much affliction, ^(S)with the ^(T)joy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷ so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. ⁸ For not only has the word of the Lord ^(U)sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth ^(V)everywhere, so that we need not say anything. ⁹ For they themselves report concerning us the kind of ^(W)reception we had among you, and how ^(X)you turned to God ^(Y)from idols to serve the living and ^(Z)true God, ¹⁰ and ^(AA)to wait for his Son ^(AB)from heaven, ^(AC)whom he raised from the dead, Jesus ^(AD)who delivers us from ^(AE)the wrath to come.

² And Paul went in, ^(A)as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them ^(B)from the Scriptures, ^3 (C)explaining and proving that it was necessary for ^(D)the Christ to suffer and ^(E)to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” ⁴ And ^(F)some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did ^(G)a great many of the devout ^(H)Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have ^(A)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^(B)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ^3 (C)If I give away all I have, and ^(D)if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

^4 (E)Love is patient and ^(F)kind; love ^(G)does not envy or boast; it ^(H)is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It ^(I)does not insist on its own way; it ^(J)is not irritable or resentful;^{[b] 6} it ^(K)does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but ^(L)rejoices with the truth. ^7 (M)Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ^(N)endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For ^(O)we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but ^(P)when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For ^(Q)now we see in a mirror dimly, but ^(R)then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as ^(S)I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

¹⁶ I urge you, then, ^(A)be imitators of me.

11 ^(A)Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

^5 (A)But the Jews^{[a] (B)}were jealous, and taking ^(C)some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

¹⁴ For you, brothers, ^(A)became imitators of ^(B)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For ^(C)you suffered the same things from your own countrymen ^(D)as they did from the Jews,^{[a] 15 (E)}who killed both the Lord Jesus and ^(F)the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and ^(G)oppose all mankind

²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but ^(A)endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(B)he falls away.^[a]

^58 (A)Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in ^(B)the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord ^(C)your labor is not in vain.