Also we do not want you to have any misunderstanding, brothers, about those who are falling asleep, so as to keep you from grieving over them as others do who have no hope.

For the Lord Himself, at the summons sounded by the archangel's call and by God's trumpet, will come down from heaven, and first of all the dead in union with Christ will rise,

For our appeal did not originate from a delusion or an impure motive; it was not made in fraud;

So let us stop sleeping as others do, but let us stay awake and keep sober.

May God Himself, who gave you peace, consecrate your whole being. May you be safely kept, spirit, soul, and body, so as to be blameless when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back.

not out of evil passions as the heathen do who do not know God;

Never stop praying.

but continue to prove all things until you can approve them, and then hold on to what is good.

Always be joyful.

For it is God's will that you should keep pure in person, that you should practice abstinence from sexual immorality,

For we know, brothers so beloved by God, that He has chosen you,

For another reason too, we, as far as we are concerned, are constantly giving thanks to God; that is, when you received the message you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the message of men but as the message of God, as it really is, which keeps on working in you who believe.

Make it a habit to give thanks for everything, for this is God's will for you through Christ Jesus.

for when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were going to be pressed with difficulties, and it took place, as you know.

that no one should do wrong and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord takes vengeance for all such things, as we told you before and solemnly warned you.

For those who sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunken at night,

And you followed the example set by us and by the Lord, because you welcomed our message with a joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, in spite of the painful persecutions it brought you,

So continue encouraging one another and helping one another in character building.

but let us who belong to the day keep sober, clothed with faith and love for a coat of mail and with the hope of salvation for a helmet.

But as to times and dates, brothers, you have no need of anyone's writing you,

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then through Jesus, God will bring back with Him those who have fallen asleep.

so that you became examples to all the believers in Macedonia and Greece.

Now, brothers, we ask and beg you, in the face of our union with the Lord Jesus, as you once received from us how you ought to live so as to please God -- as indeed you are living -- to continue to live this life better and better.

Stop stifling the Spirit.

For on the Lord's own authority we say that those of us who may be left behind and are still living when the Lord comes back, will have no advantage at all over those who have fallen asleep.

then those of us who are still living will be caught up along with them on clouds in the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall be with the Lord forever.

for since we have been so approved by God as to be entrusted with the good news, we are now telling it, not to please men but God, who proves and finds approved our hearts.

That was why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for I was afraid that the tempter had tempted you and our labor might be lost.

For God did not call us to a life of immorality, but to one of personal purity.

who died for us, so that whether we still live or sleep we may live in fellowship with Him.

Indeed, we never resorted to flattery, as you are well aware, nor to any pretext for making money; God is our witness.

So whoever rejects this teaching is rejecting not man but God who continues to put His Spirit in you.

as you are practicing it toward all the brothers all over Macedonia. We beg you, brothers, to continue to live better and better;

But now, since Timothy has just come back to me from you, and brought me good tidings of your faith and love, and told me how kindly you remembered me and that you are longing to see me as much as I am to see you,

We never sought praise from men, either from you or from anyone else; although as apostles we could have stood on our official dignity.

Because we were yearning for you so tenderly, we were willing, not only to share with you God's good news, but to lay down our very lives too for you, all because you were so dearly loved by us.

continue to hold them in the highest esteem for the sake of the work they do. Practice living at peace with one another.

Take care that none of you ever pays back evil for evil, but always keep looking for ways to show kindness to one another and everybody.

for now I am really living, since you are standing firm in the Lord.

Instead we were little children among you; we were like a mother nursing her children.

this is the very reason, namely, through your faith, brothers, that I have been encouraged about you, in spite of all my distresses and crushing difficulties,

You can testify, and God too, with what pure, upright, and irreproachable motives I dealt with you who believed;

You remember, brothers, our hard labor and toil. We kept up our habit of working night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you when we preached to you.

For how can I render God enough thanks for you, for all the joy I have on account of you in the presence of our God,

Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus guide my way to you!

to live lives worthy of God who calls you into His kingdom and His glory.

for you know how, as a father deals with his children, we used to encourage you, cheer you on, and charge each of you

as night and day I continue to pray with deepest earnestness and keenest eagerness that I may see your faces and round out to completeness what is lacking in your faith?

Stop treating the messages of prophecy with contempt,

so that you may live influentially with the outsiders, and not be dependent on anybody.

For you, brothers, followed the example of God's churches in Judea that are in union with Christ Jesus, for you too have suffered the same sort of ill-treatment at the hands of your fellow-countrymen as they did at the hands of the Jews,

so that He may strengthen your hearts to be faultless in purity in the sight of God, when our Lord Jesus comes back with all His consecrated ones.

who killed the Lord Jesus and persecuted the prophets and us; and who continue to displease God and show themselves in opposition to all mankind,

by trying to keep us from speaking to the heathen, so that they may be saved, so as always to fill to the brim the cup of their sins. But at last God's wrath has come upon them.

So when I could not bear it any longer, I decided to be left behind in Athens alone,

He who calls you is trustworthy and He will do this.

But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that that day, like a thief, should take you by surprise;

Because we did want to come to see you; I mean, that I myself, Paul, wanted again and again to come, but Satan prevented it.

So continue encouraging one another with this truth.

But, although we had just suffered and been insulted, as you remember, at Philippi, we again summoned courage by the help of God, in spite of the terrific strain, to tell you God's good news.

Now we, brothers, on our part, when we were separated from you for a little while -- in person but not in heart -- were extremely eager and intensely longing to see you.

for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.

For you are aware of the instructions which we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Brothers, pray for us.

I solemnly charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

that each man among you should learn to take his own wife out of pure and honorable motives,

and so I sent my brother Timothy, God's minister in the preaching of the good news of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

Greet all the brothers with a sacred kiss.

The spiritual blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

You, indeed, are our glory and our joy.

so that none of you might be deceived amid these difficulties. For you knew yourselves that this is our appointed lot,

We beg you, brothers, to practice showing respect to those who labor among you, who are your leaders in the Lord's work, and who advise you;

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Thessalonian church in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: spiritual blessing and peace be to you.

We beg you, brothers, continue to warn the shirkers, to cheer the faint-hearted, to hold up the weak, and to be patient with everybody.

for you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night.

For God appointed us not to reap His wrath but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

and to wait for the coming from heaven of His Son, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

also keep up your ambition to live quietly, to practice attending to your own business and to work with your own hands, as we directed you,

May the Lord make you increase and overflow in love for one another and for all men, as my love for you does,

For the people themselves tell us what a welcome you gave us, and how you turned from idols to the true God, to serve the God who lives on and is real,

for our preaching of the good news came to you not entirely in words but with power and with the Holy Spirit and with absolute certainty (for you know the kind of men we were among you for your own sakes).

For you know yourselves, brothers, that our visit to you was by no means a failure.

Continue to abstain from every sort of evil.

We always thank God for you all as we continually mention you in our prayers,

When people say, "Such peace and security!" then suddenly destruction falls upon them, like birth pains upon a woman who is about to become a mother, but they shall not escape, no, not at all.

For what is our hope or happiness or crown of boasting, except you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ when He comes?

(1:7) For the message of the Lord has rung out from you, not only in Macedonia and Greece, but everywhere the report of your faith in God has been told, so that we need never mention it.

Now as to brotherly love, you have no need of anyone's writing you, for you have yourselves been taught by God to love one another,

for we can never for a moment before our God forget your energizing faith, your toiling love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.