1 Thessalonians 1:1

I, Paul, greet you believers who are in Thessalonica

1I, Paul, am writing this letter. Silas and Timothy are with me. We(exc) are sending this letter to you who are the congregation of believers in Thessalonica city. We (inc) all worship (OR, trust in) God our Father [MET] and our Lord Jesus Christ. We three desire/pray that God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, will continue to act kindly toward you and will continue to cause you to have inner peace.

We always thank God for you all. We continually remember the way you live as believers and we know that God chose you. The Holy Spirit enabled us to powerfully tell you the good message, and although people persecuted you greatly, you were joyful. As a result, you inspired all the believers who are in Macedonia and Achaia to trust in God firmly, as you do.

2We always thank God for you all when we mention you while we pray (OR, when we pray for you).

3We thank God because we continually remember that you work for God because you trust in him and you earnestly/energetically help people because you love them. You also endure it when people cause you to suffer. You endure it because you confidently expect that our Lord Jesus Christ will soon return from heaven to rescue you!

4My fellow believers whom God loves, we also thank him because we know that he chose you to become his people.

5We know that he chose you because when we told that message to you, we did not speak only words. The Holy Spirit helped us to speak powerfully/effectively, and he strongly assured us that he was powerfully working in you by means of the message about Christ that we told to you. You yourselves know that, because you know how we spoke and how we conducted ourselves when we were with you, in order that we might help you.

6We also know that God chose you because we have now heard that you have endured your troubles when people caused you to suffer very much because you believed in Christ. You endured just like the Lord Jesus Christ endured, and just like we did when people caused us to suffer. At that time you were joyful because the Holy Spirit caused you to be joyful.

7As a result of your joyfully enduring your troubles, all the believers who live in Macedonia and Achaia provinces have heard how firmly you trust God. So they know that they should firmly trust in God as you do.

8Other people have heard you tell the message from the Lord Jesus. Then they also have proclaimed the message to people who live throughout Macedonia and Achaia provinces. Not only that, but people who live in many far-away places [HYP] have heard that you trust in God. As a result, we do not need to tell people what God has done in your lives.

9People who live far from you are telling others what happened when we were with you. They also report that you stopped worshipping things that ◄you/your ancestors► considered to be gods and now you worship God. As a result, you serve the God who is all-powerful and who is the real God.

10They tell us that now you wait expectantly for his Son to return to earth from heaven. You firmly believe that God caused him to live again after he died. You believe also that Jesus will rescue all of us, who trust in him, from God’s punishing us [MTY].