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Salutation
Paul, Silva′nus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalo′nians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
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remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit;
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For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedo′nia and Acha′ia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
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who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all men
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For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
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for now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.
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Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you;
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and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men, as we do to you,
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so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
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A Life Pleasing to God
Finally, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more.
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For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
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that no man transgress, and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we solemnly forewarned you.
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The Coming of the Lord
But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
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For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.
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For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first;
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then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.
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For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
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For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
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Final Exhortations, Greetings, and Benediction
But we beseech you, brethren, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
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May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brethren.
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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
