Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

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.

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went away. They planned how to make Jesus say something wrong.

¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him with some of Herod's people. They said, `Teacher, we know that you are true. We know that you teach the true way of God. You do not fear any person, or care how great he is.

¹⁷ So tell us. What do you think? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or is it not?'

¹⁸ Jesus knew they were trying to get him into trouble. So he said to them, `Why are you trying to get me to do wrong? You are not true to yourselves!

¹⁹ Show me a piece of money used for tax.' They brought him a piece of money.

²⁰ `Whose picture and name is this?' he asked.

²¹ They said, `Caesar's'. Then he said to them, `Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. And give to God what belongs to God.'

²² When they heard that, they were surprised. They left him and went away.