Brothers whom God loves, we know that he has chosen you,

You became imitators of us and of the Lord. In spite of a great deal of suffering, you welcomed the word with the joy that the Holy Spirit produces.

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a waste of time.

We cared so deeply for you that we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but our very lives. That is how dear you were to us.

Brothers, you remember our labor and toil. We worked night and day so that we would not become a burden to any of you while we proclaimed the gospel of God to you.

You know very well that we treated each of you the way a father treats his children.

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea that are in union with the Messiah Jesus. You suffered the same persecutions from the people of your own country as they did from those Jews

That is why we wanted to come to you. Certainly I, Paul, wanted to come time and again, but Satan blocked our way.

so that no one would be shaken by these persecutions, for which you are aware that we were destined.

In fact, when we were with you, we told you ahead of time that we were going to suffer persecution. And as you know, that is what happened.

But when I could stand it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith. I was afraid that the tempter had tempted you in some way, and that our work had been a waste of time.

But Timothy has just now returned from visiting you and has told us the good news about your faith and love. He also told us that you always have fond memories of us and want to see us, just as we want to see you.

That's why, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you by your faith.

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

We pray very hard night and day that we may see you again face to face, so that we may equip you with whatever is lacking in your faith.

For it is God's will that you be sanctified: You must abstain from sexual immorality.

so that you may win the respect of outsiders, and have need of nothing.

But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve like other people who have no hope.

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

for you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

However, brothers, you are not in the darkness, in order that the Day of the Lord might surprise you like a thief.

who died for us in order that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

Make sure that no one pays back evil for evil. Instead, always pursue what is good for each other and for everyone else.