Chronological

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, send greetings to the church people in the city of Thessalonica. The people of this church belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the kindness of God bless you and give you peace. for all of you, and we always talk to him about you.

² You do good things because you believe. You work very hard because you have love in your hearts. You are patient because you have hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. We remember these things when we talk to God our Father about you.

³ My brothers, God loves you and we know that he has chosen you.

⁴ The good news we brought you was not just words. It had power. It had the Holy Spirit. It made people very sure it was true. And you also know how we lived when we were with you to help you.

⁵ You tried hard to be like us and like the Lord. You had much trouble because you believed our message. Yet the Holy Spirit made you very happy.

⁶ You have shown all the Christians in the countries of Macedonia and Greece how they should live.

⁷ People in Macedonia and Greece have heard from you the message about the Lord. And people everywhere have heard that you believe in God. So there is no need for us to write about your faith.

⁸ They tell us how glad you were to see us. They tell us about how you left your idols and turned to God. You worship the God who is the living and true God.

⁹ And you wait for his Son to come again from heaven. God raised his Son Jesus from death. It is Jesus who saves us from God's great anger which is to come.

2 My brothers, you yourselves know that our visit to you was not for nothing.

² The people at the city of Philippi treated us very badly. As you know, we had much trouble. But God helped us, and we did not fear to tell you God's good news. But many things were against us and tried to stop us.

³ Our message was not a lie. What we told you was not wrong. And we did not try to fool you.

⁴ But God chose us to tell people the good news. And so we do not speak to please men, but to please God. He is the one who knows what is in our hearts.

⁵ We never said nice things about people that were not true. You know this. We never talked to get something out of it for ourselves. God knows this.

⁶ And we did not ask you or anybody else to help us or to praise us. Of course, we are apostles of Christ, and we had the right to do so.

⁷ But we were kind when we were with you. We were like a woman taking care of her own children.

⁸ Because we loved you, we were glad to give you God's good news. We were also glad to give you our lives, because we loved you very much.

⁹ My brothers, you remember how hard we worked. We worked night and day so that we would not trouble any of you. And we told you God's good news.

¹⁰ We lived in a holy and right way among you Christians. We did nothing wrong to you. You know this yourselves and God knows it too.

¹¹ You know how we talked to each of you as a father talks to his children. We comforted, helped, and taught you.

¹² We told you to live to please God. He called you to his own kingdom and greatness.

¹³ And here is another reason why we always thank God all the time. When you heard God's word from us, you did not say, `That is men's word.' But you said, `That is God's word.' And it really is God's word. The word is working in you Christians.

¹⁴ My brothers, you were like the churches of God in Judea which belong to Christ Jesus. The people of your own country troubled you in the same way that the Jews troubled them.

¹⁵ The Jewish leaders killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets. And they drove us out of their country. They do not please God and they are against all other people.

¹⁶ They try to stop us from talking to those people who are not Jews. They do not want them to be saved. So they are always doing wrong things. And now at last, God has become very angry with them. have been away from you for a short time in body, but not in heart. We wanted very much to see you face to face, and we tried hard to come.

¹⁷ We wanted to come to you. Twice, I, Paul, wanted to come. But Satan stopped us.

¹⁸ What is our hope when our Lord Jesus comes? What will make us happy and proud then? It is you people!

¹⁹ You are ones of whom we are proud. You make us happy.

3 We felt we could not wait any longer. So we thought it best to stay at the city of Athens alone.

² And we sent our brother Timothy to you. He works for God by telling the good news about Christ. We sent him to help you be strong and to encourage you in what you believe.

³ We do not want anyone to give up because of the trouble. You yourselves know that we all will surely have trouble.

⁴ When we were with you, we told you that we would have trouble. Trouble came. And now you know what we said is true.

⁵ That is why I could not wait any longer. I sent Timothy to find out if you were still believing. I was afraid that Satan had tried you too much. Then our work would have been for nothing.

⁶ But now Timothy has come back to us from you. He has brought us the good news that you are still believing and have love in your hearts. He has told us that you always remember us. He also told us that you want to see us, just as we want to see you.

⁷ My brothers, the way you believe has comforted us in all our troubles.

⁸ It gives us new life now to know that you are standing strong in the Lord.

⁹ We cannot thank God enough for you. We are very happy about you as we talk to God.

¹⁰ Night and day we ask God that we may see you face to face. We want to help you know more about what you believe.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, open the way for us to come to you.

¹² May the Lord make you stronger in your love for each other. Love others in the way we love you.

¹³ We want the Lord to help you to stand strong. And then, when the Lord Jesus comes with all God's people, you will be holy in the eyes of our God and Father. He will see no fault in you.

4 And now, brothers, here is what we ask you to do. We beg you in the name of the Lord Jesus. We taught you how to live and to please God. You are living that way now, and we want you to do so more and more.

² You know what we told you through the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ This is what God wants. He wants you to live clean lives. He wants you to keep away from wrong sex.

⁴ Each of you should know how to control yourself. Honour your body to make it holy.

⁵ Do not have sex with a person you are not married to. Control your strong feelings. Do not act like the people who do not know God.

⁶ Do not do wrong to your Christian brother by taking his wife for yourself. The Lord will surely punish all those who do wrong in these things. We have already told you that and made it very clear.

⁷ God did not call us to live unclean lives. He wants you to live clean and holy lives.

⁸ So anyone who does not obey is not just disobeying a man, but he is disobeying God. And it is God who has given us his Holy Spirit.

⁹ You do not need anyone to write to you about how to love each other. God himself has taught you to be loving towards each other.

¹⁰ And you do love all the Christian brothers who are in the whole country of Macedonia. But we beg you, brothers, love them more and more.

¹¹ Please try to live a quiet life. Mind your own business. Work with your hands as we told you to do.

¹² Then people who do not belong to the church will respect you. And you will not need help from anyone. here is something I want you to know about those who have died. You should not cry for them like people cry who have no hope.

¹³ We believe that Jesus died and rose again. And because of what Jesus did, God will bring back with him those who have died.

¹⁴ We tell you what the Lord said. We who are still alive when the Lord comes, will not go ahead of those who have died.

¹⁵ The Lord himself will come down from heaven. There will be a shout, a great angel will speak, and God's loud horn or trumpet will be blown.

¹⁶ Then we who are still alive on earth will be caught up together with those who were dead. We will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And then we will be with the Lord forever!

¹⁷ Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

5 My brothers, you do not need anyone to write to you about the day or the year when these things will happen.

² You your-selves surely know that the day of the Lord will come just like a person who comes to steal in the night.

³ When people are saying, `Everything is quiet and safe,' they will be destroyed. It will all happen very quickly. And there will be no way out. It will be like the pain that a woman has when a child is born.

⁴ But you, my brothers, are not in the dark. That day should not surprise you like a person who comes to steal.

⁵ You all belong to the light. You belong to the day. We do not belong to the night or to the dark.

⁶ So then, we must not go to sleep like other people. No, we must keep watching and not get drunk.

⁷ Because we belong to the day, we must not get drunk. But we must be ready like people dressed for war. We must keep believing in God. We must be loving towards each other. Faith and love will be like strong clothes to cover our bodies. The hope of being saved will protect us like a hat or helmet covers our head.

⁸ God did not choose us so that he might be angry with us. But he chose us so that we might be saved through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹ He died for us so that, if we are alive or dead, we will live with him.

¹⁰ So comfort and strengthen one another, just as you are doing. you to respect those who are working among you. They are your leaders in the Lord's work, and they tell you what you should do.

¹¹ ) My brothers, we beg you, tell this to people who do not do what they should do. Talk to those who fear, and say something that will make them strong. Help those who are weak. Be patient with all people.

¹² Do not let anyone do a wrong thing to a person if that person did a wrong thing to him. Always do good to one another. Be good to each other and to all men.

¹³ Always be happy.

¹⁴ Talk to God at all times.

¹⁵ Thank God for everything. This is what God wants you to do through Christ Jesus.

¹⁶ Do not stop the Spirit when he wants to do something.

¹⁷ Do not despise people who speak words from God.

¹⁸ But test everything that is said. Keep what is good.

¹⁹ Have nothing to do with any kind of wrong thing.

²⁰ May God himself, who gives peace, make you pure and clean. You are set apart and belong only to him. And may your spirit and soul and body all together be kept free from fault until our Lord Jesus Christ comes.

²¹ ) It is God who calls you, and he can be trusted. He will surely do what he has said.

²² My brothers, ask God to help us.

²³ Greet all the brothers with a kiss that is holy.

²⁴ I give you this order from the Lord. Read this letter to all the Christian brothers.

²⁵ May our Lord Jesus Christ bless you. May it be so.

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy send greetings to the church people in the city of Thessalonica. This church belongs to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

² May God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, in their kindness, give you much happiness and peace.

³ My brothers, we thank God for you always. It is the right thing to do. You trust him more and more. You all love each other more and more.

⁴ So we are proud of you. We tell the churches of God about you because you are standing strong and you keep on believing in God. Your troubles and hard times do not stop you.

⁵ This proves that God will judge right. And he will say that you are good enough for the kingdom of God because you suffer for it.

⁶ God will do what is right. He will give trouble to those who are troubling you.

⁷ And he will give rest to you who are having troubles, and to us also. He will give this rest when our Lord Jesus comes back from heaven. The Lord Jesus will come with his strong angels in flaming fire.

⁸ He will punish those who do not know God, and those who do not obey the good news of our Lord Jesus.

⁹ They will be destroyed for ever. That will be their punishment. They will be for ever separated from the Lord and from his great and wonderful power.

¹⁰ This will happen on the day he comes. On that day his people will show how great and wonderful he is. And all those who have believed in him will be surprised at how great he is. That means you also, because you believed what we told you.

¹¹ That is why we always talk to God about you. We want our God to make you fit for the good work to which he called you. We ask him to finish his good work of faith which trusts in his power.

¹² In that way you will make the name of our Lord Jesus Christ great. And he will make you great. This will be because of the kindness of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 My brothers, we want to talk to you about the time when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again and we are taken to meet him.

² Do not let your minds be easily upset. Do not be troubled by a spirit, or a message, or a letter. Do not be troubled if you hear that the day of the Lord has already come. Some people will say it came from us.

³ Do not let anyone fool you in any way. Before the day of the Lord comes, many people will stop believing God. The Man of Evil will be seen. He is the evil one who will be destroyed for ever.

⁴ He will put himself against God. He will put himself above everything to do with God, and above everything that people worship. He will sit in God's holy place and tell people that he is God.

⁵ You remember that I told you these things when I was still with you.

⁶ And you know what is holding that evil man back. He will not be seen until it is his time to be seen.

⁷ The plan to make people wrong has already begun to work. But someone is holding back that plan. He will stop the law-breaker for a time.

⁸ Then that evil man will be seen. The Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath from his mouth. The coming of the Lord Jesus will be so bright and wonderful that it will put the evil man to an end.

⁹ The coming of the evil man is the work of Satan. He will come in great power with signs that are not true, and wonderful things.

¹⁰ And by his bad tricks he will fool people who are lost. They will not love the true message which would have saved them.

¹¹ That is why God lets them be fooled so that they will believe what is not true.

¹² They will all be judged. I mean the people who have not believed in the true message but who wanted to do what is wrong.

¹³ My brothers, the Lord loves you. We should thank God for you always. Here is why. From the beginning God chose you to be saved. You were saved because the Spirit made you holy and because you believed the true message.

¹⁴ God called you to be saved by the good news we brought you. He did this so that you would have some of the honour which the Lord Jesus Christ has.

¹⁵ So my brothers, be strong. Hold on to the things we taught you by our words or by letter.

¹⁶ God has loved us and made us happy through his kindness. He gave us everlasting comfort and good hope.

¹⁷ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, comfort your hearts and make you strong to do and say everything that is good.

3 My brothers, please talk to God about us. Ask God that the Lord's message may reach many people quickly and that they may receive it gladly as you did.

² Ask God that we may be saved from bad people who do wrong things. Not everyone believes in Christ.

³ But the Lord can be trusted. He will make you strong. He will keep you safe from all that is wrong.

⁴ The Lord makes us feel sure about you. We are sure that you are doing, and will do, what we tell you to do.

⁵ May the Lord lead you to love God and be patient like Christ.

⁶ Now, my brothers, we tell you to do this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have nothing to do with any lazy brother who is not living the way we taught you.

⁷ You yourselves know how you should be like us. We were not lazy when we were with you.

⁸ We did not eat anyone's food without paying for it. But we worked very hard day and night because we did not want to trouble any one of you.

⁹ We have the right to be helped. But we wanted to show you what you should do in this matter.

¹⁰ Even when we were with you, we told you this, `If any man will not work, do not let him eat.'

¹¹ We hear that some of you are lazy. You do not work, but you trouble other people.

¹² We say to such lazy people, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, `Do your work quietly. Earn your own food.'

¹³ My brothers, do not get tired of doing what is good.

¹⁴ If any one will not obey what we say in this letter, look at that man and remember him. Have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed.

¹⁵ Do not treat him like an enemy. Tell him, as you would tell a brother, what he should do.

¹⁶ The Lord gives peace. May he give his peace to you at all times in every way. May the Lord be with you all.

¹⁷ I, Paul, write these words of greeting with my own hand. This is the sign in all my letters that I wrote them.

¹⁸ The loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.