and from Jesus, who is called Justus. These are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision (Jewish Christians), and they have proved to be an encouragement and a comfort to me.

Epaphras, who is one of you and a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. [He is] always striving for you in his prayers, praying with genuine concern, [pleading] that you may [as people of character and courage] stand firm, [spiritually mature] and fully assured in all the will of God.

For I testify for him that he has worked strenuously for you and for the believers in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis.

When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.

And say to Archippus, Look out for the service which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fill it.

This greeting [is being written] by me, Paul, in my own handwriting. Remember my imprisonment. [Note: This was probably a request for them to pray for him]. May God's favor be with you.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, continually mentioning you in our prayers;

for we can never for a moment before our God forget your energizing faith, your toiling love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

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

for our good news [regarding salvation] came to you not only in word, but also in [its inherent] power and in the Holy Spirit and with great conviction [on our part]. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your benefit.

You became imitators of us and [through us] of the Lord, after you welcomed our message in [a time of] great trouble with the joy supplied by the Holy Spirit;

in order for you to become examples to all those who believe, in Macedonia and in Achaia.

For the word of the Lord has resounded from you and has echoed [like thunder], not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place [the news of] your [great] faith in God has spread, so that we never need to say anything about it.

For they themselves report about us, telling what kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true 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 know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you has not been ineffective (fruitless, in vain),

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 our appeal does not come from delusion or impure motives, nor [is it motivated] by deceit [our message is complete, accurate, and based on the truth—it does not change].

for since we have been so approved by God as to be entrusted with the good news, we are now telling it, not to please men but God, who proves and finds approved our hearts.

For as you well know, we never came with words of flattery nor with a pretext for greed—God is our witness—

Or looking for glory from men, from you or from others, when we might have made ourselves a care to you as Apostles of Christ.

But we were gentle among you, like a woman caring for her little ones:

Having such a deep affection for you, we were delighted to share with you not only God’s good news but also our own lives, because you had become so very dear to us.

For you remember, believers, our labor and hardship. We worked night and day [practicing our trade] in order not to be a [financial] burden to any of you while we proclaimed the gospel of God to you.

For you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you just as a father does [in dealing with] his own children, [guiding you]

and solemnly declaring for you to walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

And we also thank God continually for this, that when you received the word of God [concerning salvation] which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its inherent, supernatural power in those of faith].

For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same [kind of] persecution from your own countrymen, as they did from the Jews,

Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

But since we were taken away from you, believers, for a little while—in person, but not in heart—we endeavored, with great longing to see you face to face.

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

For who is [the object of] our hope or joy or our victor’s wreath of triumphant celebration [when we stand] in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? Is it not you?

For you are [indeed] our glory and our joy!

Therefore, when we could no longer endure our separation [from you], we thought it best to be left behind, alone at Athens,

and we sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, in order to strengthen and to encourage you about your faith,

so that no one would be unsettled by these difficulties [to which I have referred]. For you know that we have been destined for this [as something unavoidable in our position].

For also when we were with you we foretold you that we were going to be oppressed, just as it also happened, and ye know.

For this reason, when I was no longer able to keep quiet, I sent to get news of your faith, fearing that you might be tested by the Evil One and that our work might come to nothing.

But, Timothy having just now come to us from you, and having brought us good tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us at all times, longing to see us, as we also to see you??7 for this reason, brethren, we were comforted over you, in all our tribulation and distress, through your faith;

For this cause, brothers, in all our trouble and grief we were comforted about you because of your faith;

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

For what thanks can we repay God about you, for all the joy in which we rejoiced because of you before our God,

night and day praying exceedingly for me to see your face and to perfect the things lacking in your faith?

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus make a way for us to come to you;

May the Lord make you increase and overflow in love for one another and for all men, as my love for you does,

For the rest, brethren, we request and exhort you, in our Lord Jesus, that, even as ye received from us, how ye must needs walk and please God, - even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more.

For you are aware of the instructions which we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

For it is God's will that you should keep pure in person, that you should practice abstinence from sexual immorality,

for each of you to know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and reverence,

And not for the mere gratification of his passions, like the Gentiles who know nothing of God;

that no one should do wrong and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord takes vengeance for all such things, as we told you before and solemnly warned you.

For God did not call us to a life of immorality, but to one of personal purity.

For surely therefore he despising, despises not man, but God, he also giving his holy Spirit for us.

Now as to brotherly love, you have no need of anyone's writing you, for you have yourselves been taught by God to love one another,

For ye are also doing it toward all the brothers in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, to abound more,

and to vie with one another in eagerness for peace, every one minding his own business and working with his hands, as we ordered you to do:

[Do these things] so that you will live in a proper way in front of outsiders [i.e., non-Christians], and not have [to depend on people for] any needs.

But it is our desire, brothers, that you may be certain about those who are sleeping; so that you may have no need for sorrow, as others have who are without hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then through Jesus, God will bring back with Him those who have fallen asleep.

For on the Lord's own authority we say that those of us who may be left behind and are still living when the Lord comes back, will have no advantage at all over those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself, at the summons sounded by the archangel's call and by God's trumpet, will come down from heaven, and first of all the dead in union with Christ will rise,

Then we who are still living will be taken up together with them into the clouds to see the Lord in the air: and so will we be for ever with the Lord.

Where-fore comfort yourselves one another with these words.

But about the times and their order, my brothers, there is no need for me to say anything to you.

for you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night.

For when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction approaches them, as the woman having birth pangs in her womb, and they will, no, not escape.

But you, my brothers, are not in the dark, for that day to overtake you like a thief:

for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.

For those who sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunken at night,

but let us who belong to the day keep sober, clothed with faith and love for a coat of mail and with the hope of salvation for a helmet.

For God appointed us not to reap His wrath but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us, so that whether we still live or sleep we may live in fellowship with Him.

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to appreciate those who diligently work among you [recognize, acknowledge, and respect your leaders], who are in charge over you in the Lord and who give you instruction,

continue to hold them in the highest esteem for the sake of the work they do. Practice living at peace with one another.

We exhort you, brethren, admonish the unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, earnestly care for the weak-minded, be of a long-suffering disposition toward all.

Take care that none of you ever pays back evil for evil, but always keep looking for ways to show kindness to one another and everybody.

Make it a habit to give thanks for everything, for this is God's will for you through Christ Jesus.

Hold aloof from every form of evil.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers, pray for us.

I bind you by oath, for the epistle to be read to all the holy brethren.

We always ought to be thanking God for you, brothers, as it is right to do so, because your faith is growing so much and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing

so that we are always boasting of you among the churches of God for your patient endurance and faith, in spite of your persecutions and crushing sorrows which you are enduring.

This is a proof of God's righteous judgment, His aim being to let you show yourselves worthy of His kingdom, for which you are suffering; since,

indeed, it is right for God to repay with crushing sorrows those who cause you these crushing sorrows,

and to provide [future] rest for you, along with us, who are afflicted. [This will occur] when Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire [i.e., at His second coming], accompanied by His mighty angels.

when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be wondered at in all believers, on that Day; (for you also believed our testimony).

With this in view we are always praying for you too, that our God may make you worthy of His call, and by His power fully satisfy your every desire for goodness, and complete every activity of your faith,

for ye not to be quickly shaken from your mind, nor to be alarmed, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by a letter as by us, as that the day of the Christ has come.

Let no one deceive you by any means. For it will not come until after the Great Apostasy, and the revealing of the Man of Sin, the son of perdition,

who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or an object of worship, so as for him to sit in the temple of God, as God, displaying himself that he is God.

And now ye know that which restrains, for him to be revealed in his own time.

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but only until he who is holding it back has been gotten out of the way.

The appearing of the Lawless one will be attended by various miracles and tokens and delusive marvels--for so Satan works--

and with a completely wicked deception for men who are on the way to destruction, because they refused to love the truth so as to be saved.

And because of this God will send them the force of a delusion, for them to believe a lie,

We ought always to be thanking God for you, brothers dearly loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through the Spirit's consecration of you and through your faith in the truth,

for which he called you, through our good-news, for an acquired possession of glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who had love for us and has given us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,

graciously encourage your hearts and strengthen them for all good in deed and word.