1 Thessalonians
1
{I,} Paul, {am writing this letter}. Silas and Timothy {are with me. We are sending this letter} to {you,} the assembly of believers in the Messiah in the city of Thessalonica, who are united to God the Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah. {May God continue to be} kind to you and make you peaceful.2 We pray for you very often. {When we do,} we always thank God for you all. 3 We thank our God and Father for the work that you do because you trust {in him}. We thank him for the way that you energetically help people because you love {them}. We thank him for the way that you patiently endure because you confidently expect our Lord Jesus the Messiah {to keep his promises}. 4 {We also thank God because} we know that he loves you, {our} fellow believers in the Messiah, and chose you {to become his people}. 5 {We know that God chose you,} because when we told you the good news {about Jesus}, it was not only with words, but the Holy Spirit also powerfully worked {through us}. He also strongly assured {us that he had chosen you}. In the same way, you know what kind of people we are, because when we were with you, everything that we did was to benefit you. 6 As for you, you proceeded to live as we do and as the Lord {Jesus} lived. When you believed the message {of the good news}, people caused you to suffer {because you did that. But even though you were suffering,} the Holy Spirit caused you to rejoice. 7 Because all of the people who trust {in the Messiah} throughout the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia heard {of how you remained joyful while people made you suffer}, they wanted to also live as you do. 8 In fact, many people have heard you tell the message about the Lord {Jesus}. Then they also have proclaimed the message to other people who live throughout Macedonia and Achaia provinces. Even beyond that, people who live in many far-away places have heard about how you trust in God. As a result, we do not need to tell people anything {about what God has done for you}. 9 These same people {who live far from you} are also telling {others} about how you {warmly} welcomed us. They also are telling {others} that you stopped worshiping {non-living} statues of false gods so that you could worship and obey the living God. He is the {only} real God. 10 {They} also {are telling others that you stopped worshiping the false gods} so that you could eagerly wait for God’s Son Jesus {to return to earth} from heaven. {As you know,} God resurrected Jesus after he died, and Jesus is the one who will rescue us {who believe in him} at the time when God will punish people {for their sins}.