1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 - Thanksgiving For The Thessalonian Believers

² We give thanks to God always for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers; ³ remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you; ⁵ for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you 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 not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we have no need to say anything. ⁹ For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

³ We ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, as is fitting, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. ⁴ Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you are enduring. ⁵ This is evidence of God's righteous judgment, so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. ⁶ For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, ⁷ and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, ⁸ inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, ¹⁰ when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believedbecause our testimony to you was believed. ¹¹ To this end we always pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and may fulfill every good resolve and work of faith by his power, ¹² so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.