2Brothers and sisters, you know that our visit to you was not a failure. ²You know what happened earlier in the city of Philippi. We suffered, and people treated us badly there. But God gave us the boldness to tell you his good news. We preached to you even though people opposed us strongly.

³The appeal we make is based on truth. It comes from a pure heart. We are not trying to trick you. ⁴In fact, it is just the opposite. God has accepted us to preach. He has trusted us with the good news. We aren’t trying to please people. We want to please God. He puts our hearts to the test.

⁵As you know, we never praised you if we didn’t mean it. We didn’t put on a mask to cover up any sinful longing. God is our witness that this is true. ⁶We were not expecting people to praise us. We were not looking for praise from you or anyone else.

As Christ’s apostles, we could have caused you some expense. ⁷But we were gentle among you. We were like a mother caring for her little children. ⁸We loved you so much that we were happy to share with you God’s good news. We were also happy to share our lives with you. You had become very special to us.

⁹Brothers and sisters, I am sure you remember how hard we worked. We labored night and day while we preached to you God’s good news. We didn’t want to cause you any expense.

¹⁰You are witnesses of how we lived among you believers. God is also a witness that we were holy and godly and without blame. ¹¹You know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children.

¹²We gave you hope and strength. We comforted you. We really wanted you to live in a way that is worthy of God. He chooses you to enter his glorious kingdom.

¹³We never stop thanking God for the way you received his word. You heard it from us. But you didn’t accept it as a human word. You accepted it for what it really is. It is God’s word. It is at work in you who believe.

¹⁴Brothers and sisters, you became like the members of God’s churches in Judea. They are believers in Christ Jesus, just as you are. People in your own country made you suffer. You went through the same things the church members in Judea suffered from the Jews.

¹⁵The Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets also forced us to leave. They do not please God. They are enemies of everyone. ¹⁶They try to keep us from speaking to those who aren’t Jews. The Jews don’t want them to be saved. In that way, the Jews always increase their sins to the limit. God’s anger has come on them at last.

Paul Longs to See the Believers in Thessalonica

¹⁷Brothers and sisters, we were torn away from you for a short time. We were no longer with you in person, but we kept you in our thoughts. We really longed to see you. So we tried very hard to do so. ¹⁸We wanted to come to you. Again and again I, Paul, wanted to come. But Satan stopped us.

¹⁹What is our hope? What is our joy? When our Lord Jesus returns, what is the crown we will delight in? Isn’t it you? ²⁰Yes, you are our glory and our joy.

3We couldn’t wait any longer. So we thought it was best to be left by ourselves in Athens. ²We sent our brother Timothy to give you strength and hope in your faith. He works together with God in spreading the good news about Christ. ³We sent him so that no one would be upset by times of testing.

You know very well that we have to go through them. ⁴In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that our enemies would make us suffer. As you know very well, it has turned out that way.

⁵That’s the reason I sent someone to find out about your faith. I couldn’t wait any longer. I was afraid that Satan might have tempted you in some way. Then our efforts would have been useless.

Timothy Brings a Good Report

⁶But Timothy has come to us from you just now. He has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have happy memories of us. He has also said that you long to see us, just as we long to see you.

⁷Brothers and sisters, in all our trouble and suffering your faith cheered us up. ⁸Now we really live, because you are standing firm in the Lord.

⁹How can we thank God enough for you because of all the joy that comes only from our God? ¹⁰Night and day we pray very hard that we will see you again. We want to give you what is missing in your faith.

¹¹Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus open up a way for us to come to you. ¹²May the Lord make your love grow. May it be like a rising flood. May your love for one another increase. May it also increase for everyone else. May it be just like our love for you. ¹³May the Lord give you strength in your hearts. Then you will be holy and without blame in the sight of our God and Father. May that be true when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

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