[This letter is from] Paul, and Silvanus and Timothy, [and is being sent] to the church of the Thessalonians [Note: This was a town in present-day northeastern Greece] in [fellowship with] God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God's unearned favor and peace be upon you.

Being conscious, my brothers, dear to God, that you have been marked out by God's purpose;

and to await the return from Heaven of His Son, whom He raised from among the dead--even Jesus, our Deliverer from God's coming anger.

But, as you will remember, after we had already met with suffering and outrage at Philippi, we summoned up boldness, by the help of our God, to tell you God's Good News amid much opposition.

But even as the good news was given to us by the approval of God, so we give it out; not as pleasing men, but God by whom our hearts are tested.

Having such a deep affection for you, we were delighted to share with you not only God’s good news but also our own lives, because you had become so very dear to us.

For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you.

And for this cause we also give thanks to God unceasingly that, having received the word of the report of God by us, ye accepted, not men's word, but, even as it is truly, God's word, which also works in you who believe.

For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews

forbidding us from speaking to the Gentiles (non-Jews) so that they may be saved. So, as always, they fill up [to the brim] the measure of their sins [allotted to them by God]. But [God’s] wrath has come upon them at last [completely and forever].

and sent Timothy, our brother and God's minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith;

So that no man might be moved by these troubles; because you see that these things are part of God's purpose for us.

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we have in God's presence because of you?

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received from us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality,

Because it is God's purpose that our way of life may be not unclean but holy.

For if we have faith that Jesus underwent death and came back again, even so those who are sleeping will come again with him by God's power.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God's trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,

For God's purpose for us is not wrath, but salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Give thanks in everything,
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.