1 Thessalonians 2
1 And ye yourselves, my brethren, know our entrance among you, that it was not in vain:
For you yourselves, brethren, know that our visit to you did not fail of its purpose.
2 but we first suffered and were treated with indignity, as ye know, at Philippi; and then, in a great agony, with confidence in our God, we addressed to you the gospel of the Messiah.
But, as you will remember, after we had already met with suffering and outrage at Philippi, we summoned up boldness, by the help of our God, to tell you God's Good News amid much opposition.
3 For our exhortation proceeded not from deceit, nor from impurity, nor in guile:
For our preaching was not grounded on a delusion, nor prompted by mingled motives, nor was there fraud in it.
4 but as we had been approved of God to be intrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who searcheth our hearts.
But as God tested and approved us before entrusting us with His Good News, so in what we say we are seeking not to please men but to please God, who tests and approves our motives.
5 For at no time have we used flattering speech; as ye know; nor a cloak of cupidity, God is witness.
For, as you are well aware, we have never used the language of flattery nor have we found pretexts for enriching ourselves--God is our witness;
6 Neither have we sought glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have been chargeable as legates of the Messiah.
nor did we seek glory either from you or from any other mere men, although we might have stood on our dignity as Christ's Apostles.
7 But we were lowly among you; and like a nurse, who fondleth her children,
On the contrary, in our relations to you we showed ourselves as gentle as a mother is when she tenderly nurses her own children.
8 so we also fondled you, and were desirous to impart to you, not the gospel of God merely, but also our own soul, because ye were dear to us.
Seeing that we were thus drawn affectionately towards you, it would have been a joy to us to have imparted to you not only God's Good News, but to have given our very lives also, because you had become very dear to us.
9 For ye recollect, brethren, that we labored and toiled, working with our own hands, by night and by day, that we might not be chargeable to any one of you.
For you remember, brethren, our labour and toil: how, working night and day so as not to become a burden to any one of you, we came and proclaimed among you God's Good News.
10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how we preached to you the gospel of God, purely, and uprightly, and were blameless towards all them that believe:
You yourselves are witnesses--and God is witness--how holy and upright and blameless our dealings with you believers were.
11 as yourselves know, we entreated each one of you, as a father his children, and comforted your hearts:
For you know that we acted towards every one of you as a father does towards his own children, encouraging and cheering you,
12 and we charged you, to walk as it becometh God, who hath called you to his kingdom and his glory.
and imploring you to live lives worthy of fellowship with God who is inviting you to share His own Kingship and glory.
13 Therefore also we give thanks unceasingly to God, that the word of God which ye received from us, ye did not receive as the word of men, but as being truly the word of God, which worketh efficiently in you and in them that believe.
And for this further reason we render unceasing thanks to God, that when you received God's Message from our lips, it was as no mere message from men that you embraced it, but as--what it really is--God's Message, which also does its work in the hearts of you who believe.
14 For ye, my brethren, became assimilated to the churches of God in Judaea, the persons who are in Jesus the Messiah; in that ye so suffered, even ye from your own countrymen, as also they from the Jews,
For you, brethren, followed the example of the Churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judaea; seeing that you endured the same ill-treatment at the hands of your countrymen, as they did at the hands of the Jews.
15 the persons who slew our Lord Jesus the Messiah, and persecuted their own prophets and us; and they please not God, and are made hostile to all men;
Those Jewish persecutors killed both the Lord Jesus and the Prophets, and drove us out of their midst. They are displeasing to God, and are the enemies of all mankind;
16 and they forbid us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may have life; to fill up their sins at all times. And wrath cometh on them to the uttermost.
for they still try to prevent our preaching to the Gentiles so that they may find salvation. They thus continually fill up the measure of their own sins, and God's anger in its severest form has overtaken them.
17 But we, my brethren, have been bereaved of you for a short time, (in visible presence, not in our hearts, ) and have the more exerted ourselves, to behold your faces, with great affection.
But we, brethren, having been for a short time separated from you in bodily presence, though not in heart, endeavoured all the more earnestly, with intense longing, to see you face to face.
18 And we purposed to come to you, I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered me.
On this account we wanted to come to you--at least I Paul wanted again and again to do so--but Satan hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, and our joy, and the crown of our glorying; unless it be ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
For what is our hope or joy, or the crown of which we boast? Is it not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His Coming?
20 For ye are our glory, and our joy.
Yes, you are our glory and our joy.
