1 Thessalonians 1

1 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.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

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

We give praise to God at all times for you, keeping you in memory in our prayers;

3 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.

Having ever in mind your work of faith and acts of love and the strength of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father;

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

Being conscious, my brothers, dear to God, that you have been marked out by God's purpose;

5 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.

Because our good news came to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, so that you were completely certain of it; even as you saw what our behaviour to you was like from our love to you.

6 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,

And you took us and the Lord as your example, after the word had come to you in much trouble, with joy in the Holy Spirit;

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

So that you became an example to all those who have faith in Christ in Macedonia and Achaia.

8 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.

For not only was the word of the Lord sounding out from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God is made clear; so that we have no need to say anything.

9 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,

For they themselves give the news of how we came among you; and how you were turned from images to God, to the worship of a true and living God,

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

Waiting for his Son from heaven, who came back from the dead, even Jesus, our Saviour from the wrath to come.