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

We give thanks to God always for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers;

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

For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you;

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.

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,

but after we had already suffered and been shamefully treated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in the face of great opposition.

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

For, as you know, we never used flattery nor a pretext for greed God is witness

Having so fond an affection for you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

For you remember our labor and toil, brethren; we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we preached to you the gospel of God.

You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless we behaved toward you believers;

to live a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

And we also thank God constantly for this, 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 really is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,

who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men,

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

But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, just as we long to see you

For what thanksgiving can we render to God for you in return for all the joy which we feel for your sake before our God,

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

so that he may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Finally, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more.

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

not in the passion of lust like the heathen, who do not know God;

For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Now concerning love of the brethren you have no need to have any one write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another;

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,

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

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

For God has not destined us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.

give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

But test everything; hold fast to what is good.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.