1 Thessalonians 1:2–10

THANKSGIVING

²We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. ³We recall, in the presence of our God and Father,^d your work produced by faith,^e your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.^{f 4}For we know, brothers and sisters loved^g by God,^h that he has chosen you,^{i 5}because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit,^j and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you^k for your benefit, ⁶and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message^l with joy from the Holy Spirit. ⁷As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia^m and Achaia.^{n 8}For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith^Co in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, ⁹for they themselves report^D what kind of reception^p we had from you: how you turned^q to God from idols^r to serve the living^s and true^t God ¹⁰and to wait^u for his Son^v from heaven, whom he raised from the dead^w—Jesus, who rescues us^x from the coming wrath.^y