Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

1 From: Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

To: The church of Thessalonica—kept safe in God our Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

² May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you rich blessings and peace-filled hearts and minds.

³ Dear brothers, giving thanks to God for you is not only the right thing to do, but it is our duty to God because of the really wonderful way your faith has grown and because of your growing love for each other. ⁴ We are happy to tell other churches about your patience and complete faith in God, in spite of all the crushing troubles and hardships you are going through.

⁵ This is only one example of the fair, just way God does things, for he is using your sufferings to make you ready for his Kingdom, ⁶ while at the same time he is preparing judgment and punishment for those who are hurting you.

⁷ And so I would say to you who are suffering, God will give you rest along with us when the Lord Jesus appears suddenly from heaven in flaming fire with his mighty angels, ⁸ bringing judgment on those who do not wish to know God and who refuse to accept his plan to save them through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ They will be punished in everlasting hell, forever separated from the Lord, never to see the glory of his power ¹⁰ when he comes to receive praise and admiration because of all he has done for his people, his saints. And you will be among those praising him because you have believed what we told you about him.

¹¹ And so we keep on praying for you, that our God will make you the kind of children he wants to have—will make you as good as you wish you could be!—rewarding your faith with his power. ¹² Then everyone will be praising the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the results they see in you; and your greatest glory will be that you belong to him. The tender mercy of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ has made all this possible for you.

2 ^1-2 And now, what about the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to meet him? Please don’t be upset and excited, dear brothers, by the rumor that this day of the Lord has already begun. If you hear of people having visions and special messages from God about this, or letters that are supposed to have come from me, don’t believe them. ³ Don’t be carried away and deceived regardless of what they say.

For that day will not come until two things happen: first, there will be a time of great rebellion against God, and then the man of rebellion will come—the son of hell. ⁴ He will defy every god there is and tear down every other object of adoration and worship. He will go in and sit as God in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. ⁵ Don’t you remember that I told you this when I was with you? ⁶ And you know what is keeping him from being here already; for he can come only when his time is ready.

⁷ As for the work this man of rebellion and hell will do when he comes, it is already going on,^[a] but he himself will not come until the one who is holding him back steps out of the way. ⁸ Then this wicked one will appear, whom the Lord Jesus will burn up with the breath of his mouth and destroy by his presence when he returns. ⁹ This man of sin will come as Satan’s tool, full of satanic power, and will trick everyone with strange demonstrations, and will do great miracles. ¹⁰ He will completely fool those who are on their way to hell because they have said no to the Truth; they have refused to believe it and love it and let it save them, ¹¹ so God will allow them to believe lies with all their hearts, ¹² and all of them will be justly judged for believing falsehood, refusing the Truth, and enjoying their sins.

¹³ But we must forever give thanks to God for you, our brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose from the very first to give you salvation,^[b] cleansing you by the work of the Holy Spirit and by your trusting in the Truth. ¹⁴ Through us he told you the Good News. Through us he called you to share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ With all these things in mind, dear brothers, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the truth that we taught you in our letters and during the time we were with you.

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting comfort and hope, which we don’t deserve, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts with all comfort, and help you in every good thing you say and do.

3 Finally, dear brothers, as I come to the end of this letter, I ask you to pray for us. Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and triumph wherever it goes, winning converts everywhere as it did when it came to you. ² Pray, too, that we will be saved out of the clutches of evil men, for not everyone loves the Lord. ³ But the Lord is faithful; he will make you strong and guard you from satanic attacks of every kind. ⁴ And we trust the Lord that you are putting into practice the things we taught you, and that you always will. ⁵ May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and of the patience that comes from Christ.

⁶ Now here is a command, dear brothers, given in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by his authority: Stay away from any Christian who spends his days in laziness and does not follow the ideal of hard work we set up for you. ⁷ For you well know that you ought to follow our example: you never saw us loafing; ⁸ we never accepted food from anyone without buying it; we worked hard day and night for the money we needed to live on, in order that we would not be a burden to any of you. ⁹ It wasn’t that we didn’t have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to show you firsthand how you should work for your living. ¹⁰ Even while we were still there with you, we gave you this rule: “He who does not work shall not eat.”

¹¹ Yet we hear that some of you are living in laziness, refusing to work, and wasting your time in gossiping. ¹² In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we appeal to such people—we command them—to quiet down, get to work, and earn their own living. ¹³ And to the rest of you I say, dear brothers, never be tired of doing right.

¹⁴ If anyone refuses to obey what we say in this letter, notice who he is and stay away from him, that he may be ashamed of himself. ¹⁵ Don’t think of him as an enemy, but speak to him as you would to a brother who needs to be warned.

¹⁶ May the Lord of peace himself give you his peace no matter what happens. The Lord be with you all.

¹⁷ Now here is my greeting, which I am writing with my own hand, as I do at the end of all my letters, for proof that it really is from me. This is in my own handwriting. ¹⁸ May the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you all.

Sincerely, Paul