1 From Paul [Acts 15:22, 40], Silas, and Timothy [Acts 16:1–5; 1 Cor. 16:10–11; Phil. 2:19–24; 1 and 2 Timothy].

To the church ·in Thessalonica [^Lof the Thessalonians; ^Ca city in Macedonia, present-day northern Greece] in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

² Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul Talks About God’s Judgment

³ We ·must [ought to] always thank God for you, brothers and sisters. This is only right, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love that every one of you has for each other is increasing. ⁴ So we ·brag [boast] about you to the other churches of God. We tell them about the way you ·continue to be strong [persevere; endure] and have faith even though you are being ·treated badly [persecuted] and are suffering many ·troubles [trials; hardships].

⁵ This is ·proof [evidence] that God is ·right [just; righteous] in his judgment. ·He wants you to be counted […so that you will be considered; or …to make you] worthy of his kingdom for which you are suffering. ⁶ [^LFor] God ·will do what is right [is just/righteous]. He will ·give trouble to [pay back with trials/hardship] those who ·trouble [inflict trials/hardships on] you. ⁷ And he will give rest to you who are ·troubled [suffering trials/hardships] and to us also when the Lord Jesus ·appears [is revealed] ·with blazing fire from heaven [or from heaven; ^C“with blazing fire” may go with the next sentence] with his powerful angels. ⁸ Then he will ·punish [or punish with blazing fire] those who do not know God [Jer. 10:25] and who do not obey the ·Good News about [Gospel of] our Lord Jesus. ⁹ Those people will be punished with a ·destruction that continues forever [eternal destruction], ·separated from [^L…from] the presence of the Lord and from ·his great power [or the glory of his strength; or his glorious strength]. ¹⁰ This will happen on the day when ·the Lord Jesus [^Lhe] comes to ·receive glory [be glorified] ·because of [or among; or in; or from] his holy people. And all the people who have believed will ·be amazed at [marvel at] Jesus. You will be in that group, because you believed ·what we told [our testimony to] you.

¹¹ ·That is why [To that end; In this regard] we always pray for you, asking our God to ·help you live the kind of life he called you to live [make/consider you worthy of his calling]. We pray that with his power God will ·help you do the good things you want [^Lfulfill every desire for goodness] and ·perform the works that come from your [^Levery work of] faith. ¹² We pray all this so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ will ·have glory [be glorified] in you, and you ·will have glory in him [^Lin him]. That glory comes from the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.