Greeting
1From Paul, Silas, and Timothy.
To the church at Thessalonica united with Theos our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Good will (Or “Grace.”) and peace from Theos our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are yours!
Paul’s Prayer for the Thessalonians
3We always have to thank Theos for you, brothers and sisters. It’s right to do this because your faith is showing remarkable growth and your love for each other is increasing. 4That’s why we brag in Theos’s churches about your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and suffering you are experiencing. 5Your suffering proves that Theos’s judgment is right and that you are considered worthy of his kingdom.
6Certainly, it is right for Theos to give suffering to those who cause you to suffer. 7It is also right for Theos to give all of us relief from our suffering. He will do this when the Lord Jesus is revealed, ⌞coming⌟ from heaven with his mighty angels in a blazing fire. 8He will take revenge on those who refuse to acknowledge Theos and on those who refuse to respond to the Good News about our Lord Jesus. 9They will pay the penalty by being destroyed forever, by being separated from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious power. 10⌞This will happen⌟ on that day when he comes to be honored among all his holy people and admired by all who have believed in him. This includes you because you believed the testimony we gave you.
11With this in mind, we always pray that our Theos will make you worthy of his call. We also pray that through ⌞his⌟ power he will help you accomplish every good desire and help you do everything your faith produces. 12That way the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored among you. Then, because of the good will of Jesus Christ, our Theos and Lord, you will be honored by him.
2 Thessalonians 2
Don’t Be Deceived about the Day of the Lord
1Brothers and sisters, we have this request to make of you about our Lord Jesus Christ’s coming and our gathering to meet him. 2Don’t get upset right away or alarmed when someone claims that we said through some spirit (pneuma), conversation, or letter that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don’t let anyone deceive you about this in any way. ⌞That day cannot come unless⌟ a revolt takes place first, and the man of sin, the man of destruction, is revealed. 4He opposes every so-called theos or anything that is worshiped and places himself above them, sitting in Theos’s temple and claiming to be Theos.
5Don’t you remember that I told you about these things when I was still with you? 6You know what it is that now holds him back, so that he will be revealed when his time comes. 7The mystery of this sin is already at work. But it cannot work effectively until the person now holding it back gets out of the way. 8Then the man of sin will be revealed and the Lord Jesus will destroy him by what he says. When the Lord Jesus comes, his appearance will put an end to this man.
9The man of sin will come with the power of Satan. He will use every kind of power, including miraculous and wonderful signs. But they will be lies. 10He will use everything that Theos disapproves of to deceive those who are dying, those who refused to love the truth that would save them. 11That’s why Theos will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe a lie. 12Then everyone who did not believe the truth, but was delighted with what Theos disapproves of, will be condemned.
Paul Encourages the Thessalonians
13We always have to thank Theos for you, brothers and sisters. You are loved by the Lord and we thank Theos that in the beginning he chose you to be saved through a life of spiritual devotion and faith in the truth. 14With this in mind he called you by the Good News which we told you so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15Then, brothers and sisters, firmly hold on to the traditions we taught you either when we spoke to you or in our letter.
16Theos our Father loved us and by his kindness (Or “grace.”) gave us everlasting encouragement and good hope. Together with our Lord Jesus Christ, 17may he encourage and strengthen you to do and say everything that is good.
2 Thessalonians 3
Paul’s Final Instructions for the Thessalonians
1Finally, brothers and sisters, pray that we spread the Lord’s word rapidly and that it will be honored the way it was among you. 2Also pray that we may be rescued from worthless and evil people, since not everyone shares our faith. 3But the Lord is faithful and will strengthen you and protect you against the evil one.
4The Lord gives us confidence that you are doing and will continue to do what we ordered you to do. 5May the Lord direct your lives as you show Theos’s love and Christ’s endurance.
6Brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we order you not to associate with any believer who doesn’t live a disciplined life and doesn’t follow the tradition you received from us. 7You know what you must do to imitate us. We lived a disciplined life among you. 8We didn’t eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, we worked hard and struggled night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you. 9It’s not as though we didn’t have a right to receive support. Rather, we wanted to set an example for you to follow. 10While we were with you, we gave you the order: “Whoever doesn’t want to work shouldn’t be allowed to eat.”
11We hear that some of you are not living disciplined lives. You’re not working, so you go around interfering in other people’s lives. 12We order and encourage such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to pay attention to their own work so they can support themselves. 13Brothers and sisters, we can’t allow ourselves to get tired of doing what is right.
14It may be that some people will not listen to what we say in this letter. Take note of them and don’t associate with them so that they will feel ashamed. 15Yet, don’t treat them like enemies, but instruct them like brothers and sisters.
Farewell
16May the Lord of peace give you his peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
17I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand. In every letter that I send, this is proof that I wrote it.
18The good will (Or “grace.”) of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.