2 We here are always thanking God for all of you and remembering you in our prayers—always 3 remembering before our God and father about your striving for the faith and the labour of love and the endurance of the hope in our master Yeshua Messiah. 4 Brothers and sisters, we know that you’re all loved by God—the one who chose you. 5 The good message that we brought wasn’t just any old message, but also comes in the holy spirit with power and with full assurance of its truth. You know how we lived among you because of our concern for you all, 6 [ref]and then you all imitated both us and the master after receiving the message in tribulation with a lot of excitement about the holy spirit— 7 so much so that you all became examples to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 So now the message of the master has been heard not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith towards God has been seen—so that now we don’t even need to say anything. 9 They’ve been reporting back to us about kindly we were accepted by you all and how you all turned from idols to God, to serve the living and true God 10 and waiting for his son, Yeshua to return from the heavens. Yeshua is the one that he brought back to life and who rescues us from God’s severe anger which is coming.

2 Brothers and sisters, you yourselves know that our going to Thessalonica wasn’t wasted, 2 [ref]but after previously suffering and being mistreated in Philippi, we spoke boldly at your place with God’s help, to tell you all the good message from God despite a lot of opposition there. 3 As we recommend a change in your lifestyles, we don’t do it with deception or impurity or deceit, 4 but since God has approved us and entrusted the good message to us, that’s what we talk about. We don’t aim to bring pleasure to people, but rather to bring them to God—the one who approves our inner motives. 5 As you all know, we never once came with a message of flattery, nor did we come under any pretenses (God is our witness) trying to get anything from you, 6 nor did we try to earn respect from people—neither from you all nor from anyone else 7 even though we could request support as ambassadors of Messiah. But we became unsophisticated among you, just like children, or like a breast-feeding mother who cherishes her own children. 8 So in longing for you all like that, we were happy to share with you all—not only the good message from God, but also exposing our own lives because you all became dear to us. 9 Brothers and sisters, you’re remembering our work and the hardship that we endured, working day and night so that we wouldn’t burden any of you as we proclaimed good message from God.

10 You’re all witnesses, and God also, as to how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we were to the believers, 11 just as each one of you who’s a father to his own children has known 12 how to encourage and to console them. We testified to you so that you all would live lives worthy of God—the one who invited you into his kingdom and to share his honour.

13 We also never stop thanking God that when you accepted God’s message that you heard from us, it wasn’t a message from humans, but truly was a message from God who is working in all of you who believed. 14 [ref]Brothers and sisters, you became imitators of the other assemblies of God in Yudea which are founded on Messiah Yeshua. You all suffered the same things from your own countrymen that the strict Jews did to them. 15 [ref]They executed their own prophets as well as the master Yeshua. They drove us out, displeasing God and contrary to all people— 16 forbidding us from telling non-Jews that they need to be saved so that they stay in their sins, but God’s severe anger will finish them off.

17 But we, brothers and sisters, have been cut off from you for a while, but only physically and not in our hearts, in fact we long to see you even more. 18 We wanted to come and see you all—I, Paul, even tried twice to come—but Satan held us back. 19 Because who is it that encourages and pleases us and that we can brag about? Won’t it be you all there in front of our master Yeshua when he returns, 20 because you all make us both happy and proud.

3 [ref]When we could endure it no longer, we were happy to be left alone in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who’s our brother and God’s servant in the messiah’s good message, so that he could strengthen you all and encourage you in your faith 3 so that no one will be upset by these difficulties because you all know that God has appointed us for those. 4 Also, when we were with you all previously, we told you that we were going to be oppressed, and then it happened as you know. 5 So again when I could no longer endure it, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith, just in case you’d been tempted by the tempter and then our work there would have been wasted.

6 [ref]But now Timothy’s returned here to us, telling us the good news about your faith and love, and how you’re always mentioning good things about us and wanting to see us, just like we’d like to see all of you. 7 So even in our distress and sufferings, we’re comforted by your faith, brothers and sisters 8 because now we can live happily since you’re all standing firm in the master. 9 We’re not able to repay God for the thankfulness that we have about you, because we are certainly thrilled in God’s presence because of you all.

10 Day and night we’re strongly requesting God that we’ll be able to go and see you all again, and to teach anything that’s lacking in your faith, 11 and that God our father himself and our master Yeshua might show us how we could get to you all.

12 May the master increase your numbers and give you all an excess of love towards each other and toward everyone, just like we also have toward all of you, 13 in order to strengthen your faith and make you blameless and spotless before our father God, when our master Yeshua comes with all his holy people. May it be so.

4 So finally, brothers and sisters, you learnt from us about how to live in a way that pleases God as indeed you are. Now we are requesting you and we are instructing in the master Yeshua to do this even more, 2 because you all know the instructions that we gave to you through the master Yeshua. 3 Because this is God’s will: that you all stay holy, keeping away from all sexual immorality, 4 knowing that each of your bodies is like a container that you can fill with holiness and honour. 5 Don’t fill them with lustful passions like those who don’t know God, 6 nor going beyond lusts and exploiting your fellow believers, because the master is the one who avenges all those things as we’ve told you before and testified to you all. 7 God has not called us to impurity but to holiness, 8 so whoever rejects this is not rejecting a human but rejecting God—the one who gives his holy spirit to you all.

9 Then concerning brotherly love, you don’t need me to write about that because you yourselves have been taught by God to be loving each other 10 and because you’re all already doing it to the believers all over Macedonia. But we advise you, brothers and sisters to do it even more 11 and to make it your ambition to live quietly and to look after your own selves. Work with your own hands as we instructed you, 12 so that you have a good attitude towards non-believers and so that you don’t have any outstanding needs.

13 But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, about those who’ve died so that you won’t mourn like others who don’t have any hope, 14 because if we believe that Yeshua died and came back to life, then we can also believe that when he returns, Yeshua will be bringing with him those who have died. 15 [ref]So this is what we’re saying in the message about the master: those who are still living when the master returns, we certainly won’t precede those who’ve already died 16 because there’ll be an announcement from the archangel and God’s trumpet will sound and then the master will come down from heaven with a loud shout. The dead believers in Messiah will come to life again first, 17 then we who are still alive will be pulled up into the clouds together with them to meet the master in the air, and from then will always remain with the master. 18 So when someone dies, comfort each other with those truths.

5 Concerning the times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you don’t need anything to be written 2 [ref]because you already know that the master’s return will come like a thief comes at night. 3 Just when they’re saying there’s peace and security, then they’ll suddenly recognise the imminent destruction, like a pregnant woman having birth pains. They certainly won’t be able to escape, 4 but you, brothers and sisters, aren’t in darkness and likely to get surprised by a thief in the night 5 because you’re all children of the light and of the day. No, we’re not part of the night or of the darkness 6 so as a result, we won’t be sleeping like the others, but we’ll be alert and sober. 7 Those who sleep do it at night, and those who get drunk do it at night, 8 [ref]but we belong to the day. We’ll be dressed in the armour of faith and love, and the helmet which is the hope of our salvation. 9 God hasn’t assigned us to his severe anger, but rather for obtaining salvation through our master Yeshua Messiah— 10 the one who was executed on our behalf so that whether we might be alert and watching, or whether we’re dead and ‘sleeping’, either way we’ll all live together with him. 11 So comfort and encourage each other as you’ve all been doing already.

12 But we’re asking you, brothers and sisters, to be aware of the people who’re working among you all and the ones leading you in the master and instructing you all, 13 and show them love over-and-beyond because of their work. Be at peace with each other.

14 We advise you, brothers and sisters, to scold those who’re lazy, comfort those who’re discouraged, help the weak up, and be patient towards everyone. 15 Don’t let anyone repay evil for evil, but always be doing what is good towards each other and towards everyone else.

16 Always find something to be happy about. 17 Never stop praying, 18 thanking God about everything.

This is what God wants for you in Messiah Yeshua: 19 Don’t smother the holy spirit. 20 Don’t scorn prophesies. 21 Evaluate everything, holding on to what’s good 22 but keeping away from everything that seems to be evil.

23 May the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your entire spirits, souls, and bodies be kept irreproachable at the returning of our master Yeshua Messiah. 24 The one calling you all is faithful and he will also see it through.

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us also.

26 Greet the brothers with a holy kiss for me.

27 I request you by the master to read my letter to all the believers there.

28 May you all experience the grace that comes from our master Yeshua Messiah. May it be so.