2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Easy-to-Read Version

Evil Things Will Happen

2 Brothers and sisters, we have something to say about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to talk to you about that time when we will meet together with him. ² Don’t let yourselves be easily upset or worried if you hear that the day of the Lord has already come. Someone might say that this idea came from us—in something the Spirit told us, or in something we said, or in a letter we wrote. ³ Don’t be fooled by anything they might say. That day of the Lord will not come until the turning away from God happens. And that day will not come until the Man of Evil appears, the one who belongs to hell.^{[a] 4} He will stand against and put himself above everything that people worship or think is worthy of worship. He will even go into God’s Temple^[b] and sit there, claiming that he is God.

⁵ I told you before that all these things would happen. Remember? ⁶ And you know what is stopping that Man of Evil now. He is being stopped now so that he will appear at the right time. ⁷ The secret power of evil is already working in the world now. But there is one who is stopping that secret power of evil. And he will continue to stop it until he is taken out of the way. ⁸ Then that Man of Evil will appear. But the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath that comes from his mouth. The Lord will come in a way that everyone will see, and that will be the end of the Man of Evil.

⁹ When that Man of Evil comes, it will be the work of Satan. He will come with great power, and he will do all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders. ¹⁰ The Man of Evil will use every kind of evil to fool those who are lost. They are lost because they refused to love the truth and be saved. ¹¹ So God will send them something powerful that leads them away from the truth and causes them to believe a lie. ¹² They will all be condemned because they did not believe the truth and because they enjoyed doing evil.