Hezekiah's Prayer for Deliverance

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, ^(A)enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; ^(B)you have made the heavens and the earth. ^17 (C)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear ^(D)all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, ^(E)the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ²⁰ So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Sennacherib's Fall

²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

³⁰ “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah ^(O)shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ^32 (P)For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. ^(Q)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

³³ “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or ^(R)cast up a siege mound against it. ³⁴ By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. ^35 (S)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for ^(T)the sake of my servant David.”

^36 (U)And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁷ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at ^(V)Nineveh. ³⁸ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of ^(W)Ararat, ^(X)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

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.

Paul's Ministry to the Thessalonians

2 For you yourselves know, brothers,^[c] that our ^(AF)coming to you ^(AG)was not in vain. ² But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated ^(AH)at Philippi, as you know, ^(AI)we had boldness in our God ^(AJ)to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much ^(AK)conflict. ³ For ^(AL)our appeal does not spring from ^(AM)error or ^(AN)impurity or ^(AO)any attempt to deceive, ⁴ but just as we have been approved by God ^(AP)to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not ^(AQ)to please man, but to please God ^(AR)who tests our hearts. ^5 (AS)For we never came with words of flattery,^[d] as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—^(AT)God is witness. ^6 (AU)Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, ^(AV)though we could have made ^(AW)demands as ^(AX)apostles of Christ. ⁷ But we were ^(AY)gentle^[e] among you, ^(AZ)like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. ⁸ So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God ^(BA)but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

⁹ For you remember, brothers, ^(BB)our labor and toil: we ^(BC)worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and ^(BD)God also, ^(BE)how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. ¹¹ For you know how, ^(BF)like a father with his children, ¹² we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and ^(BG)charged ^(BH)you to walk in a manner worthy of God, ^(BI)who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

¹³ And ^(BJ)we also thank God constantly^[f] for this, that when you received ^(BK)the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it ^(BL)not as the word of men^[g] but as what it really is, the word of God, ^(BM)which is at work in you believers. ¹⁴ For you, brothers, ^(BN)became imitators of ^(BO)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For ^(BP)you suffered the same things from your own countrymen ^(BQ)as they did from the Jews,^{[h] 15 (BR)}who killed both the Lord Jesus and ^(BS)the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and ^(BT)oppose all mankind ^16 (BU)by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always ^(BV)to fill up the measure of their sins. But ^(BW)wrath has come upon them at last!^[i]

Paul's Longing to See Them Again

¹⁷ But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, ^(BX)in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire ^(BY)to see you face to face, ¹⁸ because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan ^(BZ)hindered us. ¹⁹ For what is our hope or ^(CA)joy or crown of boasting ^(CB)before our Lord Jesus at his ^(CC)coming? Is it not you? ²⁰ For you are our glory and joy.

3 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing ^(CD)to be left behind at Athens alone, ² and we ^(CE)sent Timothy, ^(CF)our brother and God's coworker^[j] in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, ³ that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that ^(CG)we are destined for this. ⁴ For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, ^(CH)just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. ⁵ For this reason, ^(CI)when I could bear it no longer, ^(CJ)I sent to learn about your faith, ^(CK)for fear that somehow ^(CL)the tempter had tempted you and ^(CM)our labor would be in vain.

Timothy's Encouraging Report

⁶ But ^(CN)now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of ^(CO)your faith and love and reported ^(CP)that you always remember us kindly and ^(CQ)long to see us, as we long to see you— ⁷ for this reason, brothers,^[k] in all our distress and affliction ^(CR)we have been comforted about you through your faith. ⁸ For now we live, if you ^(CS)are standing fast in the Lord. ⁹ For ^(CT)what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, ¹⁰ as we pray most earnestly ^(CU)night and day ^(CV)that we may see you face to face and ^(CW)supply what is lacking in your faith?

¹¹ Now may ^(CX)our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, ^(CY)direct our way to you, ¹² and may the Lord ^(CZ)make you increase and abound in love ^(DA)for one another and for all, as we do for you, ¹³ so that he may ^(DB)establish your hearts blameless in holiness before ^(DC)our God and Father, at ^(DD)the coming of our Lord Jesus ^(DE)with all his saints.