1 ^(A) From Paul, Silas,^[a] and Timothy.

To the church in Thessalonica, the people of God the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that God will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

² We thank God for you and always mention you in our prayers. Each time we pray, ³ we tell God our Father about your faith and loving work and about your firm hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Thessalonians' Faith and Example

⁴ My dear friends, God loves you, and we know he has chosen you to be his people. ⁵ When we told you the good news, it was with the power and assurance that come from the Holy Spirit, and not simply with words. You knew what kind of people we were and how we helped you. ^6 (B) So, when you accepted the message, you followed our example and the example of the Lord. You suffered, but the Holy Spirit made you glad.

⁷ You became an example for all the Lord's followers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ And because of you, the Lord's message has spread everywhere in those regions. Now the news of your faith in God is known all over the world, and we don't have to say a thing about it. ⁹ Everyone is talking about how you welcomed us and how you turned away from idols to serve the true and living God. ¹⁰ They also tell how you are waiting for his Son Jesus to come from heaven. God raised him from death, and on the day of judgment Jesus will save us from God's anger.

Paul's Work in Thessalonica

2 My friends, you know our time with you wasn't wasted. ^2 (C) As you remember, we had been mistreated and insulted at Philippi. But God gave us the courage to tell you the good news about him, even though many people caused us trouble. ³ We didn't have any hidden motives when we won you over, and we didn't try to fool or trick anyone. ⁴ God was pleased to trust us with his message. We didn't speak to please people, but to please God who knows our motives.

⁵ You also know we didn't try to flatter anyone. God himself knows what we did wasn't a cover-up for greed. ⁶ We were not trying to get you or anyone else to praise us. ⁷ But as apostles, we could have demanded help from you. After all, Christ is the one who sent us. We chose to be like children or like a mother^[b] nursing her baby. ⁸ We cared so much for you, and you became so dear to us, that we were willing to give our lives for you when we gave you God's message.

⁹ My dear friends, you surely haven't forgotten our hard work and hardships. You remember how night and day we struggled to make a living, so we could tell you God's message without being a burden to anyone. ¹⁰ Both you and God are witnesses that we were pure and honest and innocent in our dealings with you followers of the Lord. ¹¹ You also know we did everything for you that parents would do for their own children. ¹² We begged, encouraged, and urged each of you to live in a way that would honor God. He is the one who chose you to share in his own kingdom and glory.

¹³ We always thank God that you believed the message we preached. It came from him, and it isn't something made up by humans. You accepted it as God's message, and now he is working in you. ^14 (D) My friends, you did just like God's churches in Judea and like the other followers of Christ Jesus there. And so, you were mistreated by your own people, in the same way they were mistreated by their people.

^15 (E) Those evil people killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and they even chased us away. God doesn't like what they do and neither does anyone else. ¹⁶ They keep us from speaking his message to the Gentiles and from leading them to be saved. They have always gone too far with their sins. Now God has finally become angry and will punish them.

Paul Wants To Visit the Church Again

¹⁷ My friends, we were kept from coming to you for a while, but we never stopped thinking about you. We were eager to see you and tried our best to visit you in person. ¹⁸ We really wanted to come. I myself tried several times, but Satan always stopped us. ¹⁹ After all, when the Lord Jesus appears, who else but you will give us hope and joy and be like a glorious crown for us? ²⁰ You alone are our glory and joy!

3 ^(F) Finally, we couldn't stand it any longer. We decided to stay in Athens by ourselves ² and send our friend Timothy to you. He works with us as God's servant and preaches the good news about Christ. We wanted him to make you strong in your faith and to encourage you. ³ We didn't want any of you to be discouraged by all these troubles. You knew we would have to suffer, ⁴ because when we were with you, we told you this would happen. And we did suffer, as you well know. ⁵ At last, when I could not wait any longer, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith. I hoped Satan had not tempted you and made all our work useless.

^6 (G) Timothy has now come back from his visit with you and has told us about your faith and love. He also said that you always have happy memories of us and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you.

⁷ My friends, even though we have a lot of trouble and suffering, your faith makes us feel better about you. ⁸ Your strong faith in the Lord is like a breath of new life. ⁹ How can we possibly thank God enough for all the happiness you have brought us? ¹⁰ Day and night we sincerely pray that we will see you again and help you to have an even stronger faith.

¹¹ We pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus will let us visit you. ¹² May the Lord make your love for each other and for everyone else grow by leaps and bounds. This is how our love for you has grown. ¹³ And when our Lord comes with all his people, I pray he will make your hearts pure and innocent in the sight of God the Father.

A Life That Pleases God

4 Finally, my dear friends, since you belong to the Lord Jesus, we beg and urge you to live as we taught you. Then you will please God. You are already living that way, but try even harder. ² Remember the instructions we gave you as followers of the Lord Jesus. ³ God wants you to be holy, so don't be immoral in matters of sex. ⁴ Respect and honor your wife.^{[c] 5} Don't be a slave of your desires or live like people who don't know God. ⁶ You must not cheat any of the Lord's followers in matters of sex.^[d] Remember, we warned you that he punishes everyone who does such things. ⁷ God didn't choose you to be filthy, but to be pure. ⁸ So if you don't obey these rules, you are not really disobeying us. Instead, you are disobeying God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

⁹ We don't have to write you about the need to love each other. God has taught you to do this, ¹⁰ and you already have shown your love for all his people in Macedonia. But, my dear friends, we ask you to do even more. ¹¹ Try your best to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work hard, just as we taught you to do. ^12 (H) Then you will be respected by people who are not followers of the Lord, and you won't have to depend on anyone.

The Lord's Coming

¹³ My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who have already died. Then you won't grieve over them and be like people who don't have any hope. ¹⁴ We believe Jesus died and was raised to life. We also believe that when God brings Jesus back again, he will bring with him all who had faith in Jesus before they died. ^15 (I)(J) Our Lord Jesus told us that when he comes, we won't go up to meet him ahead of his followers who have already died.

^16 (K) With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God's trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. ¹⁷ Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Encourage each other with these words.

5 I don't need to write you about the time or date when all this will happen. ^2 (L) You surely know that the Lord's return^[e] will be as a thief coming at night. ³ People will think they are safe and secure. But destruction will suddenly strike them like the pains of a woman about to give birth. And they won't escape.

⁴ My dear friends, you don't live in darkness, and so that day won't surprise you like a thief. ⁵ You belong to the light and live in the day. We don't live in the night or belong to the dark. ⁶ Others may sleep, but we should stay awake and be alert. ⁷ People sleep during the night, and some even get drunk. ^8 (M) But we belong to the day. So we must stay sober and let our faith and love be like a suit of armor. Our firm hope that we will be saved is our helmet.

⁹ God doesn't intend to punish us, but wants us to be saved by our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ Christ died for us, so we could live with him, whether we are alive or dead when he comes. ¹¹ This is why you must encourage and help each other, just as you are already doing.

Final Instructions and Greetings

¹² My friends, we ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard and tell you how to live for the Lord. ¹³ Show them great respect and love because of their work. Try to get along with each other. ¹⁴ My friends, we beg you to warn anyone who isn't living right. Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Don't be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.

¹⁶ Always be joyful ¹⁷ and never stop praying. ¹⁸ Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.

¹⁹ Don't turn away God's Spirit ²⁰ or ignore prophecies. ²¹ Put everything to the test. Accept what is good ²² and don't have anything to do with evil.

²³ I pray that God, who gives peace, will make you completely holy. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept healthy and faultless until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. ²⁴ The one who chose you can be trusted, and he will do this.

²⁵ Friends, please pray for us.

²⁶ Give the Lord's followers a warm greeting.

²⁷ In the name of the Lord I beg you to read this letter to all his followers.

²⁸ I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you!

1 ^(A) From Paul, Silas,^[a] and Timothy.

To the church in Thessalonica, the people of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

² I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

When Christ Returns

³ My dear friends, we always have good reason to thank God for you, because your faith in God and your love for each other keep growing all the time. ⁴ This is why we brag about you to all of God's churches. We tell them how patient you are and how you keep on having faith, even though you are going through a lot of trouble and suffering.

⁵ All this shows that God judges fairly and is making you fit to share in his kingdom for which you are suffering. ⁶ It is only right for God to punish everyone who is causing you trouble, ⁷ but he will give you relief from your troubles. God will do the same for us, when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with his powerful angels ⁸ and with a flaming fire.

Our Lord Jesus will punish anyone who doesn't know God and won't obey his message. ^9 (B) Their punishment will be eternal destruction, and they will be kept far from the presence of our Lord and his glorious strength. ¹⁰ This will happen on the day when the Lord returns to be praised and honored by all who have faith in him and belong to him. This includes you, because you believed what we said.

¹¹ God chose you, and we keep praying that God will make you worthy of being his people. We pray for God's power to help you do all the good things you hope to do and your faith makes you want to do. ¹² Then, because of the undeserved grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, you will bring honor to the name of our Lord Jesus, and he will bring honor to you.

The Lord's Return

2 ^(C) When our Lord Jesus returns, we will be gathered up to meet him. So I ask you, my friends, ² not to be easily upset or disturbed by people who claim the Lord^[b] has already come. They may say they heard this directly from the Holy Spirit, or from someone else, or even that they read it in one of our letters. ³ But don't be fooled! People will rebel against God. Then before the Lord returns, the wicked^[c] one who is doomed to be destroyed will appear. ^4 (D) He will brag and oppose everything holy or sacred. He will even sit in God's temple and claim to be God. ⁵ Don't you remember I told you this while I was still with you?

⁶ You already know what is holding this wicked one back until it is time for him to come. ⁷ His mysterious power is already at work, but someone is holding him back. And the wicked one won't appear until this someone is out of the way. ^8 (E) Then he will appear, but the Lord Jesus will kill him simply by breathing on him. He will be completely destroyed by the Lord's glorious return.

^9 (F) When the wicked one appears, Satan will pretend to work all kinds of miracles, wonders, and signs. ¹⁰ Lost people will be fooled by his evil deeds. They could be saved, but they will refuse to love the truth and accept it. ¹¹ So God will make sure they are fooled into believing a lie. ¹² All of them will be punished, because they would rather do evil than believe the truth.

Be Faithful

¹³ My friends, the Lord loves you, and it is only natural for us to thank God for you. God chose you to be the first ones to be saved.^[d] His Spirit made you holy, and you put your faith in the truth. ¹⁴ God used our preaching as his way of inviting you to share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ My friends, this is why you must remain faithful and follow closely what we taught you in person and by our letters.

¹⁶ God our Father loves us. He treats us with undeserved grace and has given us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father ¹⁷ will encourage you and help you always to do and say the right thing.

Pray for Us

3 Finally, our friends, please pray for us. This will help the message about the Lord to spread quickly, and others will respect it, just as you do. ² Pray that we may be kept safe from worthless and evil people. After all, not everyone has faith. ³ But the Lord can be trusted to make you strong and protect you from harm. ⁴ He has made us sure that you are obeying what we taught you and that you will keep on obeying. ⁵ I pray that the Lord will guide you to be as loving as God and as patient as Christ.

Warnings against Laziness

⁶ My dear friends, in the name of^[e] the Lord Jesus, I beg you not to have anything to do with any of your people who loaf around and refuse to obey the instructions we gave you. ⁷ You surely know that you should follow our example. We didn't waste our time loafing, ⁸ and we didn't accept food from anyone without paying for it. We didn't want to be a burden to any of you, so night and day we worked as hard as we could.

⁹ We had the right not to work, but we wanted to set an example for you. ¹⁰ We also gave you this rule: If you don't work, you don't eat. ¹¹ Now we learn that some of you just loaf around and won't do any work, except the work of a busybody. ¹² So, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask and beg these people to settle down and start working for a living. ¹³ Dear friends, you must never become tired of doing right.

¹⁴ Be on your guard against any followers who refuse to obey what we have written in this letter. Put them to shame by not having anything to do with them. ¹⁵ Don't consider them your enemies. Instead, speak kindly to them as you would to any other follower.

Final Prayer

¹⁶ I pray that the Lord, who gives peace, will always bless you with peace. May the Lord be with all of you.

¹⁷ I always sign my letters as I am now doing: PAUL.

¹⁸ I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to all of you.