** The First Letter to the Thessalonians **
[1 Thessalonians 1] {1:1} Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. {1:2} Grace and peace to you. We give thanks to God always for all of you, keeping the memory of you in our prayers without ceasing,
{1:3} remembering your work of faith, and hardship, and charity, and enduring hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God our Father. {1:4} For we know, brothers, beloved of God, of your election. {1:5} For our Gospel has not been among you in word alone, but also in virtue, and in the Holy Spirit, and with a great fullness, in the same manner as you know we have acted among you for your sake. {1:6} And so, you became imitators of us and of the Lord, accepting the Word in the midst of great tribulation, but with the joy of the Holy Spirit. {1:7} So have you become a pattern for all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. {1:8} For from you, the Word of the Lord was spread, not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith, which is toward God, has advanced so much so that we do not need to speak to you about anything. {1:9} For others are reporting among us of the kind of acceptance we had among you, and how you were converted from idols to God, to the service of the living and true God, {1:10} and to the expectation of his Son from heaven (whom he raised up from the dead), Jesus, who has rescued us from the approaching wrath.
[1 Thessalonians 2] {2:1} For you yourselves know, brothers, that our acceptance among you was not empty.
{2:2} Instead, having previously suffered and been treated shamefully, as you know, at Philippi, we had confidence in our God, so as to speak the Gospel of God to you with much solicitude. {2:3} For our exhortation was not in error, nor from impurity, nor with deception. {2:4} But, just as we have been tested by God, so that the Gospel would be entrusted to us, so also did we speak, not so as to please men, but rather to please God, who tests our hearts.
{2:5} And neither did we, at any time, become flattering in speech, as you know, nor did we seek an opportunity for avarice, as God is witness. {2:6} Nor did we seek the glory of men, neither from you, nor from others. {2:7} And although we could have been a burden to you, as Apostles of Christ, instead we became like little ones in your midst, like a nurse cherishing her children. {2:8} So desirous were we for you that we were willing to hand over to you, not only the Gospel of God, but even our own souls. For you have become most beloved to us. {2:9} For you remember, brothers, our hardship and weariness. We preached the Gospel of God among you, working night and day, so that we would not be burdensome to any of you. {2:10} You are witnesses, as is God, of how holy and just and blameless we were with you who have believed.
{2:11} And you know the manner, with each one of you, like a father with his sons, {2:12} in which we were pleading with you and consoling you, bearing witness, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of God, who has called you into his kingdom and glory. {2:13} For this reason also, we give thanks to God without ceasing: because, when you had accepted from us the Word of the hearing of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but (as it truly is) as the Word of God, who is working in you who have believed. {2:14} For you, brothers, have become imitators of the churches of God which are at Judea, in Christ Jesus. For you, too, have suffered the same things from your fellow countrymen as they have suffered from the Jews, {2:15} who also killed both the Lord Jesus, and the Prophets, and who have persecuted us. But they do not please God, and so they are adversaries to all men.
{2:16} They prohibit us to speak to the Gentiles, so that they may be saved, and thus do they continually add to their own sins. But the wrath of God will overtake them in the very end. {2:17} And we, brothers, having been deprived of you for a short time, in sight, but not in heart, have hurried all the more to see your face, with a great desire. {2:18} For we wanted to come to you, (indeed, I, Paul, attempted to do so once, and then again,) but Satan impeded us. {2:19} For what is our hope, and our joy, and our crown of glory? Is it not you, before our Lord Jesus Christ at his return? {2:20} For you are our glory and our joy.
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