Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing (A)to be left behind at Athens alone, and we (B)sent Timothy, (C)our brother and God's coworker[a] in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that (D)we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, (E)just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. For this reason, (F)when I could bear it no longer, (G)I sent to learn about your faith, (H)for fear that somehow (I)the tempter had tempted you and (J)our labor would be in vain.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Thessalonians 3:2 Some manuscripts servant

So when we couldn’t stand it any longer, we thought it was a good idea to stay on in Athens by ourselves, and we sent you Timothy, who is our brother and God’s coworker in the good news about Christ. We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faithfulness. We didn’t want any of you to be shaken by these problems. You know very well that we were meant to go through this. In fact, when we were with you, we kept on predicting that we were going to face problems exactly like what happened, as you know. That’s why I sent Timothy to find out about your faithfulness when I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was worried that the tempter might have tempted you so that our work would have been a waste of time.

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