1 Thessalonians 2
1 For you yourselves, brethren, know that our visit to you did not fail of its purpose.
Now you yourselves know, brothers, that our entrance to you did not happen without purpose.
2 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.
Rather, in spite of having already suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, we made bold in our God to speak to you the Gospel of God, in the face of strong opposition.
3 For our preaching was not grounded on a delusion, nor prompted by mingled motives, nor was there fraud in it.
Further, our exhortation does not spring from delusion or impurity, nor is it in deception,
4 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.
but we speak precisely as those who have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, not so as to please men, but to please the God who evaluates our hearts.
5 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;
Further, you well know that we never used words to flatter, or to disguise greed (God is witness),
6 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.
or to seek glory from men (whether from you or from others)—as apostles of Christ we could have been ‘heavy’,
7 On the contrary, in our relations to you we showed ourselves as gentle as a mother is when she tenderly nurses her own children.
but we were gentle among you, like a nurse cherishing her own children.
8 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.
Yearning over you in this way, we were well pleased to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become dear to us.
9 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.
Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and exertion, because working night and day, so as not to burden any of you, we proclaimed the Gospel of God to you.
10 You yourselves are witnesses--and God is witness--how holy and upright and blameless our dealings with you believers were.
You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;
11 For you know that we acted towards every one of you as a father does towards his own children, encouraging and cheering you,
indeed, you know how we treated each one of you as a father does his own children, exhorting and comforting you,
12 and imploring you to live lives worthy of fellowship with God who is inviting you to share His own Kingship and glory.
insisting that you conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
13 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.
Another reason we give thanks to God continually is that when you received from us the spoken Word of God, you welcomed it not as the word of men but, as it actually is, the Word of God, which is indeed operative in you who believe.
14 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.
For you, brothers, became imitators of God's congregations in Christ Jesus, the ones in Judea, in that you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen that they did from the Jews
15 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;
(the ones who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, who have persecuted us, who do not please God and are hostile to everybody,
16 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.
trying to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved—so as to fill up the measure of their sins. They have received the full impact of the Wrath).
17 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.
Now we, brothers, having been bereaved of you for a short season (in presence, not in heart), made every effort to see your face, from intense longing.
18 On this account we wanted to come to you--at least I Paul wanted again and again to do so--but Satan hindered us.
(We actually tried to come to you—I, Paul, time and again—but Satan thwarted us.)
19 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?
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Is it not precisely you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?
20 Yes, you are our glory and our joy.
Indeed, you are our glory and our joy.
