Greeting

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

3 ^aWe ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers,¹ as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the ^blove of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves ^cboast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in ^dall your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

The Judgment at Christ’s Coming

5 This is ^eevidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be ^fconsidered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to ^grepay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, ^hwhen the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven ⁱwith his mighty angels 8 ^jin flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who ^kdo not know God and on ^lthose who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from² the presence of the Lord and ^mfrom the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, ⁿbecause our testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of ^ohis calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every ^pwork of faith by his power, 12 so that the ^qname of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Man of Lawlessness

1 Now concerning the ^rcoming of our Lord Jesus Christ and ^sour being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,³ 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or ^talarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter ^useeming to be from us, to the effect that the ^vday of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the ^wrebellion comes first, and the ^xman of lawlessness⁴ is revealed, the son of destruction,⁵ 4 who opposes and ^yexalts himself against every ^zso-called god or object of worship, ^aso that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is ^balready at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill ^cwith the breath of his ^dmouth and bring to nothing by the ^eappearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false ^fsigns and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore ^gGod sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that ^hall may be condemned who ⁱdid not believe the truth but ^jhad pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Firm

13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, ^kbrothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the ^lfirstfruits⁶ to be saved, through ^msanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he ⁿcalled you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, ^ostand firm and hold to the ^ptraditions that you were taught by us, ^qeither by our spoken word or by our letter.

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good ^rhope through grace, 17 ^scomfort your hearts and ^testablish them in every good work and word.

Pray for Us

1 Finally, brothers,^{7 u}pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored,^{8 v}as happened among you, 2 and that we may be ^wdelivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and ^xguard you against the evil one.⁹ 4 And ^ywe have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we ^zcommand. 5 May the Lord ^adirect your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Warning Against Idleness

6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you ^bkeep away from any brother who is walking in ^cidleness and not in accord with the ^dtradition that you received from us. 7 For ^eyou yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and ^flabor we worked night and day, ^gthat we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 ^hIt was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but ⁱbusybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work ^jquietly and to earn their own living.¹⁰

13 As for you, brothers, ^kdo not grow weary ^lin doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 ^mDo not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

Benediction

16 Now may the Lord of peace himself ⁿgive you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

17 ^oI, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of ^pgenuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever