From Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater.

As a result we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring.

This is evidence of God's righteous judgment, to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you are suffering.

For it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith,

that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God's temple, displaying himself as God.

Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.

But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope,

encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good thing you do or say.

Now may the Lord direct your hearts toward the love of God and the endurance of Christ.