I am continually thanking God for all, always making mention of you in my prayers,

For I know, O brothers, beloved of God, that he has chosen you;

for my gospel did not come to you in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. For you know also the manner in which I behaved myself among you for your sakes.

For the word of the Lord has been sounded forth from you, and its sound has been heard not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place where the tidings of your faith toward God have been spread abroad, so that I have no need to speak of it.

For others, of their own accord, tell about the welcome I had from you, and how you turned to God from your idols, to be slaved of a true and living God,

and to await for the coming of his Son from the heavens, the Son whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, our Deliverer from the wrath to come.

For you yourselves know, brothers, that my visit to you did not fail of its purpose;

for you remember that although I had already borne ill-treatment and insult at Philippi, I took courage in my God to tell you the gospel of God, in the face of much opposition.

For my preaching was not grounded on a delusion, or on impure motives, on in deceit.

For as you well know, I never resorted to flattery, nor to any pretext for enriching myself. God is my witness!

For this reason also I am giving continual thanks to God, because when you heard from me the spoken word of God, you received it not as the word of men, but as the word of God (which in truth it is), who himself is effectually at work in you believe.

For you, brothers, began to follow the example of the churches of God in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus; and you in your turn suffered at the hands of your fellow citizens persecutions like to those which they endured from the Jews??15 The men who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out??hey are displeasing to God, and are the enemies of all mankind.

But I, my brothers, although torn from you for a short season (in presence, not in heart), made eager efforts to behold you face to face with strong longing.

For that reason I would fain have visited you??, Paul, again and again??ut Satan hindered me.

For what is my hope, or joy? What is the victor's wreath in which I exult? What but your own selves in the presence of our Lord Jesus, at his coming!

For you are my pride and my delight.

For even when I was with you I used to tell you beforehand that I was to suffer affliction; and so it proved, as you know.

For now I am really living, if you are standing firm in the Lord.

For what thanksgiving can I render again to God in your behalf, in return for all the joy which you cause me in the presence of my God?

For you know what charges I laid upon you through the Lord Jesus.

For this is God's will, even your sanctification; that you should abstain from sexual vice.

For God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness.

It is not needed that I should write to you about brotherly love; for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

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

For this I tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are living, who survive unto the coming of the Lord, will in no wise precede those who have fallen asleep.

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

For you are all sons of light, and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness.

For those who are sleeping, sleep in the night, and those who are drunken, are drunken in the night.

But let us who are of the day be self-controlled, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He died for us, in order that whether we are keeping vigil in life or sleeping in death we may ever be living together with him.

Esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. Live in peace among yourselves.

Take care that none of you ever return evil for evil, but always pursue what is kind to one another and to all.

Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

Brothers, pray for me.