The positive flip side of the punishment of the afflicters is the comfort of the afflicted. The Thessalonians who have been afflicted will receive rest along with us—that is, along with Paul and his comrades, who also endure affliction in the present time. The word translated as “rest” (anesis) was used to describe relief from difficulties of various kinds and is a good antonym of “affliction” (thlipsis).12 Paul uses it here in an eschatological sense: it refers to the definitive rest granted to