New Testament Plan

¹Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.

²For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

³When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!

⁴But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;

⁵for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.

⁶So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober;

⁷for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.

⁸But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

⁹For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁰who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.

¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

¹²But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you;

¹³esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.

¹⁵See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.

¹⁶Rejoice always,

¹⁷pray without ceasing,

¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit.

²⁰Do not despise the words of prophets,

²¹but test everything; hold fast to what is good;

²²abstain from every form of evil.

²³May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁴The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

²⁵Beloved, pray for us.

²⁶Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.

²⁷I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all of them.

²⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

¹Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

⁴Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.

⁵This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering.

⁶For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

⁷and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels

⁸in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

⁹These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

¹⁰when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

¹¹To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith,

¹²so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters,

²not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

³Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction.

⁴He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.

⁵Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

⁶And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed when his time comes.

⁷For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed.

⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming.

⁹The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders,

¹⁰and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

¹¹For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false,

¹²so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.

¹³But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

¹⁴For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope,

¹⁷comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.