1 Thessalonians

Chapter 1

1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace.

2 We give thanks to God always concerning all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, unceasingly

3 remembering your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father,

4 knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election,

5 because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, just as you know what sort of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

8 For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that we have no need to say anything.

9 For they themselves report concerning us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

10 and to await his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Chapter 2

1 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain,

2 but though we had previously suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much conflict.

3 For our appeal does not come from error or from impurity or with deceit,

4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.

5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God is witness,

6 nor seeking glory from men, whether from you or from others,

7 though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle in your midst, like a nurse cherishing her own children.

8 So, yearning for you, we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become dear to us.

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: working night and day so as not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers,

11 just as you know how, like a father with his own children, we dealt with each one of you,

12 exhorting you and encouraging you and charging you to walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

13 And for this reason we also give thanks to God without ceasing, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it truly is, the word of God, which is also at work in you who believe.

14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,

15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and do not please God, and are opposed to all men,

16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last.

17 But we, brothers, having been bereaved of you for a short time—in presence, not in heart—were all the more eager, with great longing, to see your face.

18 For we wished to come to you, I, Paul, both once and twice, but Satan hindered us.

19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting—is it not indeed you—before our Lord Jesus at his coming?

20 For you are our glory and joy.

Chapter 3

1 Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone,

2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to encourage you concerning your faith,

3 so that no one might be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed for this;

4 for indeed, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were going to suffer affliction, just as it happened, as you know.

5 For this reason, when I too could bear it no longer, I sent to learn of your faith, lest somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor should prove to be in vain.

6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love, and that you always have a good remembrance of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you,

7 for this reason we were comforted, brothers, concerning you, in all our distress and affliction, through your faith,

8 because now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord.

9 For what thanksgiving can we render to God in return for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice because of you before our God,

10 praying night and day most earnestly that we may see your face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you;

12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all, just as we also do toward you,

13 so as to establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints[, amen].

Chapter 4

1 Finally then, brothers, we ask you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God—just as indeed you are walking—that you abound still more.

2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality,

4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,

5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God,

6 that no one transgress and take advantage of his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger concerning all these things, just as we also told you beforehand and solemnly testified.

7 For God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification.

8 Therefore the one who rejects this rejects not man but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,

10 and indeed you do this toward all the brothers in the whole of Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, to abound still more,

11 and to aspire to live quietly and to attend to your own affairs and to work with your own hands, just as we commanded you,

12 so that you may walk becomingly toward those outside and have need of nothing.

13 But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who sleep, so that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who remain until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep;

16 because the Lord himself, with a shout of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first;

17 then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Chapter 5

1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you,

2 for you yourselves know precisely that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.

3 When they say, "Peace and security," then sudden destruction comes upon them, like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they shall by no means escape.

4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that the day should overtake you like a thief;

5 for you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

6 So then, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us keep watch and be sober.

7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night;

8 but let us, being of the day, be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation;

9 because God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 who died for us, so that whether we wake or sleep, we may live together with him.

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as indeed you are doing.

12 And we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who labor among you and preside over you in the Lord and admonish you,

13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

14 And we exhort you, brothers: admonish the unruly, comfort the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient with all.

15 See that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both toward one another and toward all.

16 Rejoice always,

17 pray without ceasing,

18 give thanks in everything; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

19 Do not quench the Spirit,

20 do not despise prophecies,

21 but test all things; hold fast to what is good,

22 abstain from every form of evil.

23 And may the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 Faithful is he who calls you, who also will do it.

25 Brothers, pray also for us.

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

27 I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.