2 Thessalonians 1

1 [I], Paul, [am writing this letter]. Silas and Timothy [are with me. We are sending this letter] to [you]. You are the congregation [of God’s people] in Thessalonica [city]. You belong to God our Father, and you belong to Jesus Christ our Lord.

To the Thessalonian church in union with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, From Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

2 [We pray that] God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord, [will continue to] act kindly toward you and [will continue to cause you to have inner] peace.

May God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

3 [Our] fellow believers, we thank God very frequently [HYP] for you because we believers ought [to thank God for each other, and] specifically it is appropriate/right [that we should thank God for you. We thank him] that you are trusting in [the Lord Jesus] more and more, and that each one of you is loving [each of] the others more and more.

Friends, it is our duty always to thank God about you, as is but right, considering the wonderful growth of your faith, and because, without exception, your love for one another is continually increasing.

4 As a result, we keep proudly telling about you to [other] congregations who [worship] God. [Specifically, we tell them] that you are being steadfast and that you [continue] believing [in the Lord Jesus], even though you are frequently suffering [DOU] as a result of people causing you trouble.

So much is this the case that we ourselves speak with pride, before the churches of God, of the patience and faith which you have shown, in spite of all the persecutions and troubles that you are enduring.

5 [Your being steadfast] (shows/indicates to) [us] clearly that God will judge [all people] justly. [Specifically, he] will publicly declare that you are worthy [as his people to be in] that place where he will rule [forever, because] you also are suffering as a result of [telling others about letting] God rule your lives.

These persecutions will vindicate the justice of God’s judgment, and will result in your being reckoned worthy of God’s kingdom, for the sake of which you are now suffering;

6 [God will certainly cause trouble for] those people who are troubling you, because he [considers] that it is just that he should punish such people for doing that to you.

since God deems it just to inflict suffering on those who are now inflicting suffering on you,

7 He also [considers] that it is the right thing to do to reward you who are being troubled, by (giving you relief/causing your suffering to end). He will do that for both you and us when our Lord Jesus will descend from heaven, together with his powerful angels and with blazing fire.

and to give relief to you who are suffering, as well as to us, at the appearing of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire.

8 [Then he will] punish those people who do not [want to] know him and [those] who refuse to heed the message about our Lord Jesus.

Then he will inflict punishment on those who refuse to know God, and on those who turn a deaf ear to the good news of Jesus, our Lord.

9 [Our Lord Jesus] will forbid them from ever coming near to him and near to the glory which he has [because he is so] powerful (OR, the glory that is manifested by his power). He will cause those people to suffer forever. (aiōnios g166)

They will pay the penalty of unutterable ruin – banished from the presence of the Lord and from the glorious manifestation of his might, (aiōnios g166)

10 [The Lord Jesus] will do this when he comes [back from heaven] at the time [that God has decided]. As a result, all we who are his people will praise him because of [what he has done for his own] people, and all we believers will marvel at our Lord because of [what he has done. And you will be there, too], because you believed what we testified to you.

when he comes to be honoured in his people, and to be revered in all who have learned to believe in him (for you also believed our testimony) – as he will be on that day.

11 In order that you might [praise Jesus like this], we are also praying very frequently [HYP] for you. We pray that [you will be able to show] our God that you are worthy [to receive] that which he chose [you to receive]. We pray also that he would powerfully enable you to do good in every way that you desire, and that he would also enable you to do powerfully every [good] thing [that you do because] you believe [in Jesus Christ].

With this in view, our constant prayer for you is that our God may count you worthy of the call that you have received, and by his power make perfect your delight in all goodness and the efforts that have resulted from your faith.

12 [We pray this because we want] you to praise our Lord Jesus, and we want him to honor you. This will happen because God, whom we [worship/serve], and our Lord Jesus Christ will keep acting kindly [toward you] in ways that you do not deserve.

Then, in the loving kindness of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ, will the name of Jesus, our Lord, be honoured in you, and you in him.