Beginning

Greetings and thanksgiving

1 Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the assembly of Thessalonians in God our father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah: ² grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

³ We owe God a constant debt of gratitude concerning you, my dear family. It is only right and proper. Your faith is growing marvelously, and the love which every single one of you has for each other is multiplying. ⁴ As a result, we ourselves can tell all the churches of God how proud we are of you—of your patience and loyalty in all your troubles, and in all the sufferings you are going through.

⁵ All this is a clear sign of the just judgment of God, to make you thoroughly worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering— ⁶ since it is just, on God’s part, to pay back with suffering those who inflict suffering on you, ⁷ and to give you, with us, respite from your sufferings.

The coming of Jesus

This will come about when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, ⁸ in a flaming fire, meting out punishment to those who don’t know God and those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his power, ¹⁰ when he comes to be glorified in all his holy ones, and to be marveled at by all who believe in him, because our testimony to you was met with faith, on that day.

¹¹ To that end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his call, and may complete every plan he has to do you good, and every work of faith in power, ¹² 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 of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

The lawless one

2 Now concerning the royal presence of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, and our gathering together around him, this is our request, my dear family. ² Please don’t be suddenly blown off course in your thinking, or be unsettled, either through spiritual influence, or through a word, or through a letter supposedly from us, telling you that the day of the Lord has already arrived. ³ Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. You see, it can’t happen unless the rebellion takes place first, and the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, is revealed. ⁴ He is the one who sets himself against every so-called god or cult object, and usurps their role, so that he installs himself in God’s temple, and makes himself out to be a god.

⁵ Don’t you remember that I told you this while I was with you? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining him so that he will be revealed at his proper time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the restrainer is in place—until he is taken away; ⁸ and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth, and will wipe him out by unveiling his presence.

⁹ The presence of the lawless one will be accompanied by satanic activity, with full power, with signs, and spurious wonders, ¹⁰ with every kind of wicked deceit over those on the way to ruin, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. ¹¹ For that reason God sends upon them a strong delusion, leading them to believe the lie, ¹² so that judgment may come upon all who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.

Exhortation to steadfastness

¹³ But we always owe God a debt of gratitude for you, my family beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits of his work of salvation, through sanctification by the spirit and belief of the truth. ¹⁴ To this he called you through our gospel, so that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

¹⁵ So then, my dear family, stand firm, and hold on tight to the traditions which you were taught, whether through what we said or through our letter. ¹⁶ And may our Lord Jesus the Messiah himself, and God our father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.

Requests for prayer

3 Finally, my dear family, pray for us, that the word of the Lord will go forward quickly and be glorified, as it has among you; ² and that we may be rescued from evil and wicked people. Not all, you see, have faith! ³ But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

⁴ We are confident in the Lord about you, that you are doing, and will continue to do, what we instructed you. ⁵ May the Lord direct your hearts towards the love of God and the patience of the Messiah.

The dangers of idleness

⁶ Here is a command we have for you, my dear family, in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Keep away from any member of the family who is stepping out of line, and not behaving according to the tradition that you received from us.

⁷ You yourselves know, after all, how you should copy us. We didn’t step out of line, ⁸ nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. We worked night and day, with labor and struggle, so as not to place a burden on any of you. ⁹ It wasn’t that we don’t have the right; it was so that we could give you an example, for you to copy us. ¹⁰ And, indeed, when we were with you, we gave you this command: those who won’t work shouldn’t eat!

¹¹ You see, we hear that there are some among you who are stepping out of line, behaving in an unruly fashion, not being busy with real work, but just busybodies. ¹² To people like that we give this commandment and exhortation in the Lord Jesus the Messiah: do your own work in peace, and eat your own bread. ¹³ As for you, my dear family, don’t get tired of doing what is right!

Final remarks

¹⁴ If anyone doesn’t obey our word in this letter, take note of them. Don’t have any dealings with such a person, so that they may be ashamed. ¹⁵ Don’t consider a person like this an enemy: rebuke them as a member of the family. ¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.

¹⁷ I, Paul, am sending you this greeting in my own hand. This is the sign in each letter of mine; this is how I write. ¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah be with you all.