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Greetings from Paul

This letter is from Paul, Silas,[a] and Timothy.

We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May God our Father[b] and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Encouragement during Persecution

Dear brothers and sisters,[c] we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering. And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. In his justice he will pay back those who persecute you.

And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power. 10 When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about him.

11 So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. 12 Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.[d]

Footnotes

  1. 1:1 Greek Silvanus, the Greek form of the name.
  2. 1:2 Some manuscripts read God the Father.
  3. 1:3 Greek Brothers.
  4. 1:12 Or of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Salutation

From Paul[a] and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you[b] from God the[c] Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Thanksgiving

We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters,[d] and rightly so,[e] because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater. As a result we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring.

Encouragement in Persecution

This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment, to make you worthy[f] of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you are suffering. For it is right[g] for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed[h] from heaven with his mighty angels.[i] With flaming fire he will mete out[j] punishment on those who do not know God[k] and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They[l] will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength,[m] 10 when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired[n] on that day among all who have believed—and you did in fact believe our testimony.[o] 11 And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling[p] and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to[q] the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Thessalonians 1:1 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
  2. 2 Thessalonians 1:2 tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”
  3. 2 Thessalonians 1:2 tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A F G I 0278 1175 1241 1505 2464 M lat sy sa) have ἡμῶν (hēmōn) after πατρός (patros), reading “God our Father,” in apparent emulation of Paul’s almost universal style. The omission of the pronoun (the reading of B D P 0111vid 33 1739 1881 SBL) seems to be the earlier wording of this salutation. As well, the intrinsic evidence also supports the shorter reading: If 2 Thessalonians is authentic, it was one of Paul’s earliest letters, and, if so, his stereotyped salutation was still in embryonic form (see discussion at 1 Thess 1:1). NA28 places the word in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.
  4. 2 Thessalonians 1:3 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelphoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
  5. 2 Thessalonians 1:3 tn Grk “as is worthy.”
  6. 2 Thessalonians 1:5 tn Grk “so that you may be made worthy.” The passive infinitive καταξιωθῆναι (kataxiōthēnai) has been translated as an active construction in English for stylistic reasons.
  7. 2 Thessalonians 1:6 tn Grk “if in fact/since,” as a continuation of the preceding.
  8. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 tn Grk “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus.”
  9. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 tn Grk “angels of power,” translated as an attributive genitive.
  10. 2 Thessalonians 1:8 tn Grk “meting out,” as a description of Jesus Christ in v. 7. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 8 in the translation.
  11. 2 Thessalonians 1:8 sn An allusion to Jer 10:25, possibly also to Ps 79:6 and Isa 66:15.
  12. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 tn Grk “who,” describing the people mentioned in v. 8. A new sentence was started here in the translation by replacing the relative pronoun with a personal pronoun.
  13. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 tn Or “power,” or “might.” The construction can also be translated as an attributed genitive: “from his glorious strength” (cf. TEV “glorious might”; CEV “glorious strength”; NLT “glorious power”).sn An allusion to Isa 2:10, 19, 21.
  14. 2 Thessalonians 1:10 tn Or “marveled at.”
  15. 2 Thessalonians 1:10 tn Grk “because our testimony to you was believed.”
  16. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 tn Or “your calling.”
  17. 2 Thessalonians 1:12 tn Or “by means of.”