1 Thessalonians 1

1 Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

To the Thessalonian church in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. May God bless you and give you peace.

2 Grace and peace to you. We give thanks to God always for all of you, keeping the memory of you in our prayers without ceasing,

We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all;

3 remembering your work of faith, and hardship, and charity, and enduring hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God our Father.

recalling continually before our God and Father the efforts that have resulted from your faith, the toil prompted by your love, and the patient endurance sustained by your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

4 For we know, brothers, beloved of God, of your election.

Friends, whom God loves, we know that he has chosen you,

5 For our Gospel has not been among you in word alone, but also in virtue, and in the Holy Spirit, and with a great fullness, in the same manner as you know we have acted among you for your sake.

because the good news that we brought came home to you, not merely as so many words, but with a power and a fulness of conviction due to the Holy Spirit. For you know the life that we lived among you for your good.

6 And so, you became imitators of us and of the Lord, accepting the Word in the midst of great tribulation, but with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

And you yourselves began to follow, not only our example, but the Master’s also; and, in spite of much suffering, you welcomed the message with a joy inspired by the Holy Spirit,

7 So have you become a pattern for all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.

and so became a pattern to all who believed in Christ throughout Macedonia and Greece.

8 For from you, the Word of the Lord was spread, not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith, which is toward God, has advanced so much so that we do not need to speak to you about anything.

For it was from you that the Lord’s message resounded throughout Macedonia and Greece; and, more than that, your faith in God has become known far and wide; so that there is no need for us to say another word.

9 For others are reporting among us of the kind of acceptance we had among you, and how you were converted from idols to God, to the service of the living and true God,

Indeed, in speaking about us, the people themselves tell of the reception you gave us, and how, turning to God from your idols, you became servants of the true and living God,

10 and to the expectation of his Son from heaven (whom he raised up from the dead), Jesus, who has rescued us from the approaching wrath.

and are now awaiting the return from heaven of his Son whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, our deliverer from the coming wrath.