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

And we ask you, brethren, in regard to the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together unto 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 quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither through spirit, neither through word, neither through letters as through us, as that the day of Christ hath arrived;

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 — if the falling away may not come first, and the man of sin be revealed — the son of the destruction,

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 is opposing and is raising himself up above all called God or worshipped, so that he in the sanctuary of God as God hath sat down, shewing himself off that he is God — [the day doth not come].

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, these things I said 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, what is keeping down ye have known, for his being 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 secret of the lawlessness doth already work, only he who is keeping down now [will hinder] — till he may be out of the way,

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 shall be revealed the Lawless One, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the manifestation of his presence,

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].

[him, ] whose presence is according to the working of the Adversary, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders,

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 deceitfulness of the unrighteousness in those perishing, because the love of the truth they did not receive for their being 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 because of this shall God send to them a working of delusion, for their believing the lie,

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 they may be judged — all who did not believe the truth, but were well pleased in the 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].

And we — we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, that God did choose 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.

to which He did call you through our good news, to the acquiring 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 ye fast, and hold the deliverances that ye were taught, whether through word, whether through 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)

and may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who did love us, and did give comfort age-during, and good hope in 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.

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