[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 not only was the word of the Lord sounding out from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God is made clear; so that we have no need to say anything.

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

For you know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you has not been ineffective (fruitless, 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.

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

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.

our address to you was without any flattery, as you yourselves can witness, and God is witness that we had no avarice to disguise.

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

So in my fond affection it was my joy to give you, not only the gospel of God, but my very life also, because you had become dear to me.

You are witnesses, and so is God, how unworldly and just and blameless was our behavior toward you who believe [in our Lord Jesus Christ].

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

And, for this cause, we, are also giving thanks unto God unceasingly, that, when ye received a spoken word from us - which was God's, ye welcomed it - not as a human word, but, even as it truly is, a divine word, - which is also inwardly working itself in you who 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.

For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again [wanted to come], but Satan hindered us.

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

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.

Because of this, I too, no longer covering over it, sent in order to know your faith, lest somehow he who tempts was tempting you, and our labor became in vain.

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.