Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church assembled at Thessalonica in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ;

From God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace be yours and peace.

We owe a constant debt of thanksgiving to God, brethren, on your behalf; we have good reason for it, when your faith thrives so well, and your love for one another exceeds all measure;

our own boasting, as we visit the churches of God, is of your perseverance and your faith amidst all the persecutions and trials which you have to endure.

It will be a proof of the just award God makes, when he finds you worthy of a place in his kingdom, the kingdom for which you are prepared to suffer.

Or do you doubt that there is justice with God, to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

and you, the afflicted, with that rest which will be ours too? But that is for the day when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven, with angels to proclaim his power;

with fire flaming about him, as he pours out vengeance on those who do not acknowledge God, on those who refuse obedience to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The presence of the Lord, and the majesty of his power, will condemn them to eternal punishment,✻

when he comes to shew how glorious he is in his saints, how marvellously he has dealt with all the faithful, that our witness should have reached you Gentiles, and found belief! Yes, there will be justice when that day comes.✻

It is with this in view that we are always praying for you, praying that God may find you worthy of your vocation, and ripen by his influence all your love of well-doing, all the activity of your faith.

So may the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in you, and you glorified in him, through the grace given you by our God and by the Lord Jesus Christ.