[1Thess 1]
1:1 Paul and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace1.

1So B 1739 1881 copsa,fay arm vg. ℵA I 33 81 and a majority of lesser Gk. mss. (copbo) add from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
1:2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
1:3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and 2patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before 3our God and Father;
2Or, stedfastness
3Or, God and our Father;
1:4 knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election,
1:5 4how that our 5gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in 6a holy spirit, and in much 7assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we became toward you for your sake.
4Or, because our gospel etc.
5Gk. good tidings And so everywhere; see marginal note on Mt 4:23.
6Or, the Holy Spirit, And so in vs. 6.
7Or, fulness;
1:6 And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of a holy spirit;
1:7 so that ye became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.
1:8 For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God is gone forth; so that we need not to speak anything.
1:9 For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come.
[1Thess 2]
2:1 For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in unto you, that it hath not been found vain:
2:2 but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as ye know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict.
2:3 For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
2:4 but even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who proveth our hearts.
2:5 For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness;
2:6 nor seeking glory of men, neither from you nor from others, when we might have 8claimed authority as apostles of Christ.
8Or, been burdensome See vs. 9; cf. 1Co 9:4ff.
2:7 But we were 9babes in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children:
9So p65ℵ*BC* I copbo. A 1739 33 81 and a majority of lesser Gk. mss., copfay arm read gentle
2:8 even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us.
2:9 For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
2:10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and unblamably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe:
2:11 as ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and witnessing,
2:12 to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who 10calleth you into his own kingdom and glory.
10So B 1739 33 81 and the majority of lesser Gk. mss. But ℵA copsa,bo,fay arm vg read called
2:13 And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us 11the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe.
11Gk. a word of hearing, Ga 3:2, 5.
2:14 For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews;
2:15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men;
2:16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always: but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
2:17 But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for 12a short season, in seeing your face not in heart, endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire:
12Gk. a season of an hour,
2:18 because we wished to come unto you, I Paul once and again; and Satan hindered us.
2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus in his presence?
2:20 For ye are our glory and our joy.
[1Thess 3]
3:1 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone;
3:2 and sent Timothy, our brother and 13God’s minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith;
13So ℵA 1739 81 copsa,bo,fay vg. B (33 D*) almost alone read fellow-worker (with God) A majority of lesser Gk. mss. read God’s servant and our fellow-worker in
3:3 that no man be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that hereunto we are appointed.
3:4 For truly, when we were with you, we told you 14beforehand that we are to suffer affliction; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
14Or, plainly
3:5 For this cause I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent that I might know your faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor should come to be in vain.
3:6 But when Timothy came even now unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, longing to see us, even as we also to see you;
3:7 for this cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith:
3:8 for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
3:9 For what thanksgiving can we render again unto God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
3:10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
3:11 Now may 15our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way unto you:
15Or, God himself and our Father
3:12 and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you;
3:13 to the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before 16our God and Father, in the presence of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.17
16Or, God and our Father
17ℵ*A 81 D* copbo vg add Amen.
[1Thess 4]
4:1 Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, even as ye do walk, – that ye abound more and more.
4:2 For ye know what 18charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
18Gk. charges
4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication;
4:4 that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
4:5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God;
4:6 that no man 19transgress, and wrong his brother in the matter: because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we 20forewarned you and testified.
19Or, overreach
20Or, told you plainly
4:7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.
4:8 Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you.
4:9 But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another;
4:10 for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more;
4:11 and that ye aspire to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you;
4:12 that ye may walk becomingly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing.
4:13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope.
4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep 21in Jesus will God bring with him.
21Gk. through Or, will God through Jesus bring
4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the presence of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep.
4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a 22shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
22Lit. shout of command, like a coxswain’s call to the rowers. Compare with the shout in Josh 6:16.
4:17 afterwards we that are alive, that are left, shall 23together with them be caught up in the clouds, to a meeting with the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
23Gk. αμα, hama, together as in ch. 5:10.
4:18 Wherefore 24comfort one another with these words.
24Or, exhort ch. 5:11.
[1Thess 5]
5:1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you.
5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
5:3 When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.
5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you 25as a thief:
25BA virtually alone read as thieves are overtaken:
5:5 for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness;
5:6 so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober.
5:7 For they that sleep do sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night.
5:8 But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on a breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
5:9 For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
5:10 who died for us, that, whether we watch or sleep, we should live together with him.
5:11 Wherefore 26exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do.
26Or, comfort ch. 4:18.
5:12 But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
5:13 and to esteem them exceedingly highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
5:14 And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all.
5:15 See that none render unto any one evil for evil; but always follow after that which is good, even toward one another, and toward all.
5:16 Rejoice always;
5:17 pray without ceasing;
5:18 in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
5:19 Quench not the spirit;
5:20 despise not prophesyings;
5:21 but prove all things; hold fast that which is good;
5:22 abstain from every form of evil.
5:23 And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.
5:25 Brethren, pray also for us.
5:26 Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss.
5:27 I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the 27brethren.
27So ℵ*B D copsa. But p46vidA 1739 33 81 and the majority of lesser Gk. mss., copbo arm vg add holy
5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.28
28So B 1739* 33 D* copsa. ℵA 81 and the majority of lesser Gk. mss., copbo arm vg add Amen.