1I, Paul, am writing this letter. Silas and Timothy join me in writing.
We are sending this letter to you, the members of the church in Thessalonica. You belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Paul Prays and Gives Thanks
3Brothers and sisters, we should always thank God for you. That is only right, because your faith is growing more and more. We also thank God that the love you all have for one another is increasing. 4So among God’s churches we brag about the fact that you don’t give up easily. We brag about your faith in all the suffering and testing you are going through.
5All of this proves that when God judges, he is fair. So you will be considered worthy to enter God’s kingdom. You are suffering for his kingdom. 6God is fair. He will pay back trouble to those who give you trouble. 7He will help you who are troubled. And he will also help us. All these things will happen when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come in blazing fire. He will come with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who don’t know God. He will punish those who don’t obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. 9They will be destroyed forever. They will be shut out of heaven. They will never see the glory of the Lord’s strength. 10All these things will happen when he comes. On that day his glory will be seen in his holy people. Everyone who has believed will be amazed when they see him. This includes you, because you believed the witness we gave you.
11Keeping this in mind, we never stop praying for you. Our God has chosen you. We pray that he will make you worthy of his choice. We pray he will make every good thing you want to do come true. We pray that he will do this by his power. We pray that he will make perfect all that you have done by faith. 12We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus will receive glory through what you have done. We also pray that you will receive glory through what he has done. We pray all these things in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1我保罗同西拉和提摩太写信给帖撒罗尼迦属于我们父上帝和主耶稣基督的教会。
2愿我们的父上帝和主耶稣基督赐给你们恩典和平安！
感恩与劝勉
3弟兄姊妹，我们应当为你们常常感谢上帝，这是合宜的，因为你们的信心不断增长，彼此相爱的心也不断增加。 4因此，我们在上帝的众教会中夸奖你们在各种迫害和患难中的坚忍和信心。 5你们这种表现正是上帝公义审判的明证，使你们配进上帝的国，你们正在为这国受苦。
6上帝是公义的，祂必以患难来报应那些迫害你们的人。 7当主耶稣和祂大能的天使在烈焰中从天上显现时，祂必使你们这些受苦的人和我们同得安慰， 8惩罚那些不认识上帝、不听从有关我们主耶稣之福音的人。 9那些人要受的刑罚就是离开主的面和祂荣耀的权能，永远灭亡。 10主降临的那日，祂要在祂的众圣徒中得到荣耀，使所有的信徒惊叹不已。你们也会在当中，因为你们相信了我们做的见证。
11因此，我们常常为你们祷告，愿我们的上帝看你们配得祂的呼召，用大能成全你们一切美好的心愿和凭信心所做的工作。 12这样，按照我们的上帝和主耶稣基督所赐的恩典，主耶稣基督的名便在你们身上得到荣耀，你们也在祂身上得到荣耀。
