[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.

Because our good news came to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, so that you were completely certain of it; even as you saw what our behaviour to you was like from our love to you.

For from you the word of the Lord was proclaimed not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith with respect to God went into every place, so that we had no need to say any thing;

how successful our arrival was among you, and how you renounc'd your idols to serve the living and true God,

For you yourselves know, brothers, our visit to you was not in vain,

But after we had first undergone much pain and been cruelly attacked as you saw, at Philippi, by the help of God we gave you the good news without fear, though everything was against us.

Our exhortation was not to bring you to error, nor yet to uncleanness, neither was it with guile:

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.

Neither was our conversation at any time with flattering words - as ye well know - neither in cloaked covetousness, God is record:

Now was I seeking glory from men, either yourselves or others, although I might have exercised authority as Christ's apostle.

so was our affection toward you. Our good will was to have dealt unto you, not the gospel of God only: but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

You and God are witnesses of how pure, honest, and blameless our conduct was among you who believe.

You know how I was wont to treat each of you as a father treats his children,

For this cause thank we God without ceasing, because that when ye received of us the word, wherewith God was preached, ye received it not as the word of man: but even as it was, indeed, the word of God; which worketh in you that believe.

As for ourselves, Brothers, our having been bereaved of you even for a short time--though in body only, and not in spirit--made us all the more eager to see your faces again; and the longing to do so was strong upon us.

That was why we made up our minds to go and see you--at least I, Paul, did, more than once--but Satan put difficulties in our way.

At last our desire to have news of you was so strong that, while we ourselves were waiting at Athens,

For verily when I was with you, I told you before that we should suffer tribulation even as it came to pass, and as ye know.

That was why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for I was afraid that the tempter had tempted you and our labor might be lost.

But now when Timotheus was come to us from you, and had brought us the good tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, longing to see us, as we also to see you:

then, amid all my own distress and trouble, I was cheered ??this faith of yours encouraged me.

For you certainly do practice it toward all the brothers [and sisters] throughout Macedonia. [Note: This was the province in which Thessalonica was located]. Yet we urge you, brothers, to continue doing it more and more.

[We also urge you to] make it your aim to live a quiet life, and to attend to your own business matters, and to work with your hands, as we urged you. [Note: Possibly this exhortation was directed toward the tendency of some people there to neglect ordinary responsibilities in view of an imminent return of Christ].

For we say this to you by [the authority of] the word of the Lord [Note: Paul was either quoting what Jesus had previously said, or was giving a revelation he had received from the Lord. See I Cor. 14:37], that we [Christians] who are [still] alive, who are left [on earth] when the Lord returns, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. [Note: The point Paul is making is that the living will not be "changed" (I Cor. 15:51-52) and taken to heaven before the dead are raised].

Who was put to death for us, so that, awake or sleeping, we may have a part in his life.