1 1 Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace and peace to you. 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers; 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you; 5 for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit; 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we have no need to say anything. 9 For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the deadó Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. 2 1 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our visit to you was not in vain; 2 but after we had already suffered and been shamefully treated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in the face of great opposition. 3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity, nor is it made with deceit; 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 For, as you know, we never used flattery nor a pretext for greedóGod is witnessó6 nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, like a mother nursing her little children. 8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. 9 For you remember our labor and toil, brethren; we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we preached to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless we behaved toward you believers; 11 for you know how, as a father with his own children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you 12 to live a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the