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Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
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Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Thanksgiving and Prayer
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
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Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
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All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
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God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you
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and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
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He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
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They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
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on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
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With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.
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We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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The Man of Lawlessness
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,
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Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
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He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
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And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
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For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
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Stand Firm
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
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May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,
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May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
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Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed.
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Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.
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I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.
