Paul, 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 give thanks to God always for you, brethren, as is fitting, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you are enduring.

This is evidence of God's righteous judgment, so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and may fulfill every good resolve and work of faith by his power,

so 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.

who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

For this reason God sends upon them a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false,

But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

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

comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and earn their own bread to eat.

But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.