2 Thessalonians 2

1 Now [I want to write to you] about the time when our Lord Jesus Christ will return and when [God] will gather us together to [where Jesus] is. My fellow believers, I urge you

Now we beg you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him,

2 that you think calmly [about any message] that [claims/says] that the Lord has [already] come again. Do not be shaken or alarmed/worried by any such message. [It does not matter] if [it is a message that someone claims God’s Spirit] revealed to him, or if [it is some other message that someone] has spoken, or whether [it is a message that someone claims] that I wrote in a letter.

that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as [if it were] by us, as that the day of the Lord is present.

3 Do not allow anyone to deceive you in any way [with the result that you believe any such message]. 2 Thessalonians 2:3b-5 [The Lord] will not come [MTY] [immediately]. First, [many people] [PRS] will rebel [against God]. The result of their rebelling will be that [they will accept and obey] the man who will sin very greatly [against God].

Let not any one deceive you in any manner, because [it will not be] unless the apostasy have first come, and the man of sin have been revealed, the son of perdition;

4 He will be the [supreme] enemy [of God]. He will [proudly] exalt himself above everything that [people] consider to be some god and above everything that people worship. [As a result of wanting people to worship him], he will [even enter] God’s Temple and sit down [there to rule]. He will publicly proclaim that he himself is God! But [God] will [certainly] punish that man forever!

who opposes and exalts himself on high against all called God, or object of veneration; so that he himself sits down in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

5 (I am sure that you remember that I kept telling you these things while I was still with you [there in Thessalonica]./Do you not remember that I continued telling you these things while I was still with you [there in Thessalonica]?) [RHQ]

Do ye not remember that, being yet with you, I said these things to you?

6 You also know that there is something (OR, someone) that is preventing this man [from being revealed] {[from revealing himself]}. This man is being (held back/restrained) [now] for him to be revealed {that he reveal himself} at the time that [God has planned] [MTY].

And now ye know that which restrains, that he should be revealed in his own time.

7 [Although Satan] is already secretly causing [people] to reject [God’s] laws, (the one/God) who is preventing [this man from revealing himself] now [will continue to prevent him from doing that] until he/[God] removes him.

For the mystery of lawlessness already works; only [there is] he who restrains now until he be gone,

8 It is then that [God will allow] this man, who rejects [God’s] laws [completely], to be revealed {to reveal himself}. Then the Lord Jesus will destroy him, by simply commanding it [MTY]. Jesus, by his own glorious arrival, will cause him to become [completely] powerless.

and then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall annul by the appearing of his coming;

9 But [before Jesus destroys him], Satan will make him very powerful. As a result, he [will do all kinds of supernatural] miracles and amazing things [DOU] that will seem as though [God has enabled him to do them].

whose coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood,

10 And by doing wicked [things], he will completely deceive those who will [certainly] (perish/go to hell). [He will deceive them] because they will have refused to love the true [message]. So they will not be saved {God will not save them}. (questioned)

and in all deceit of unrighteousness to them that perish, because they have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved.

11 So, God, by his power, will enable this man to easily deceive people, so that they will believe what [this man] falsely [claims/says that he is].

And for this reason God sends to them a working of error, that they should believe what is false,

12 The result will be that everyone will be [rightly] condemned {that [God] will [justly] condemn everyone} [to be punished] who did not believe the true [message], but who instead gladly chose [to be doing] what is wicked.

that all might be judged who have not believed the truth, but have found pleasure in unrighteousness.

13 [Our] fellow believers, whom our Lord [Jesus] loves, we thank God very frequently for you. It is appropriate/right for us to do that, because God chose you (from the beginning [MTY] [of creation/before the world existed]) in order that he might save [you] as a result of [your] believing the true [message] and as a result of [God’s] Spirit setting you apart [for God].

But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of [the] Lord, that God has chosen you from [the] beginning to salvation in sanctification of [the] Spirit and belief of [the] truth:

14 [We thank God that] he chose you as a result of our [proclaiming] the message about Christ [to you], in order that you might (share in/have) some of the glory that our Lord Jesus Christ has.

whereto he has called you by our glad tidings, to [the] obtaining of [the] glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 So, [our fellow believers, continue to be firm concerning what you believe]; that is, continue believing the [true] teaching that we gave to you by our speaking to you and by our [writing] a letter [to you].

So then, brethren, stand firm, and hold fast the instructions which ye have been taught, whether by word or by our letter.

16 Our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, our Father, loves us and encourages us and causes us to confidently expect [to receive] the eternal things that [he has promised to give to us] as a result of [Christ] acting kindly toward us in a way we did not deserve. (aiōnios g166)

But our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us, and given [us] eternal consolation and good hope by grace, (aiōnios g166)

17 [We strongly pray that] God and Jesus together will encourage you! And we pray that they will cause you to continue doing and saying things that God considers to be good.

encourage your hearts, and establish you in every good work and word.