2 Thessalonians

¹ From: Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy

To: The Assembly of Thessalonians in connection with our Father God and Lord Jesus Christ

² Good fortune and peace to you from Father God and Lord Jesus Christ.

³  We owe it to God to express gratitude for you all the time, Family, as is appropriate because your faithfulness is flourishing and your love—all of you, every person toward each other—is overflowing. ⁴ The result is that we ourselves express being proud of you among God’s Assemblies for your perseverance and faithfulness throughout all the persecution and oppression you are enduring. ⁵ It is evidence that God justly decided to rule you are appropriate for God’s Reign, for the sake of which you are already suffering. ⁶ If it is actually just for God to repay your oppressors with oppression ⁷ and to provide you who are being oppressed with relief along with us (at the revealing of the Lord Jesus outside the heavens in the company of his powerful messengers ⁸ with flaming fire, dispensing a righting of wrongs on those who have not come know God and to those who do not listen to the triumphant message of our Lord Jesus, ⁹ and those ones will pay restitution—agelong destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from his renowned strength), ¹⁰ then on that day when he comes, he will be openly praised in association with his sacred ones and be seen as amazing in association with everyone who was faithful because our testimony was trusted faithfully by you. ¹¹ We always pray for that on your behalf so that God may think you appropriate for our calling and powerfully bring every kindhearted goodwill and faithful effort to reality ¹² and that the name of our Lord Jesus can be renowned because of you—and you because of him— based on the generosity of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹ We ask you, Family, about the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to him ² for you not to be shaken hastily from your way of thinking or to be frightened, neither by a spirit-breath nor by something spoken nor by a letter received as if from us implying that the Lord’s Day is already here. ³ May no one deceive you by any method since it has not come unless the defection has happened first and the Person of Torahlessness has been revealed, the heir of destruction, ⁴ the one who is against and elevates themselves over everything referred to as a god or an object of devotion, going so far as to seat themselves in the temple of God to display themselves there as evidence that they are a god. ⁵ Don’t you remember that I told you these things while I was still with you? ⁶ And now you have come to understand what is holding them back until they are revealed at the proper moment. ⁷ The unrecognized Torahlessness is already being enacted. The one holding it back only does so for now until they get out of the way. ⁸ Then the Torahless one will be revealed—whom the Lord will do away with through the breath of his mouth and counteract them with the remarkable display of his arrival— ⁹ whose arrival corresponds with the work of the Adversary with every powerful act and dramatic demonstration and impressive but deceptive feat ¹⁰ and with every unjust deception done by those who are being destroyed because they did not accept love of truth for them to be liberated. ¹¹ Because of this, God sends opportunities for actions that lead away from the Path for them to do to be faithful to the lie ¹² so that all those who are not faithful to the truth but rather think injustice seems good would be given a verdict.

¹³ We owe it to God to express gratitude for you all the time, Family loved by the Lord, because God appointed you from the beginning for liberation associated with being designated as sacred through the Life-breath and faithfulness to the truth ¹⁴ to which God called you, in fact, through our triumphant message to obtain our Lord Jesus Christ’s renown. ¹⁵ Therefore, Family, stand firm and hold on to the teachings we passed down to you, whether by speech or through our letter. ¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our Father God, who loved us and generously gave agelong encouragement and joyful hope, ¹⁷ encourage and make your hearts secure with every beneficial thing you do or say.

¹ Finally, pray for us, Family, that the Lord’s message would take off at a run and be renowned just like it has been with you ² and that we would be rescued from inappropriate and harmful people since not everyone is faithful. ³ But the Lord is faithful and will strengthen and protect you from hardship. ⁴ As for you, we have confidence in the Lord that you are both doing and will continue to do what we instructed. ⁵ The Lord will guide your hearts toward God’s love and Christ’s endurance.

⁶ As representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ, Family, we are instructing you to keep your distance from every member of the Family who walks impulsively and not based on the instruction they received from us. ⁷ You saw for yourselves what it takes to walk the way we walk because we did not behave without moderation among you ⁸ or eat people’s food without paying; instead, with hard work and labor night and day, we made effort not to be a burden for any of you. ⁹ We did that not because we do not have the right, but rather so we would give ourselves to you as a model for you to imitate. ¹⁰ It was while we were with you that we gave you this instruction: “If someone does not want to work, then they should not eat either.” ¹¹ You see, we hear some among you are walking without moderation, doing no work but involving themselves in other people’s work. ¹² So, we instruct these people and encourage them in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ to work in silence and then they can eat their own food. ¹³ But you, Family, may you not get worn out while doing what is admirable. ¹⁴ If someone does not listen to what we have to say in this letter, take it as a sign not to be closely connected with them, so that he may feel remorse, ¹⁵ but don’t think of them as an enemy; instead, instruct them how to grow as a member of the Family.

¹⁶ May the Lord of Peace himself give you peace through everything in every way. ¹⁷ This greeting in my own handwriting is from Paul, which is a mark of authenticity in every letter; this is how I write. ¹⁸ Good fortune from our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.