1 PAUL and Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

2 We thank God always for you all when we mention you in our prayers,

3 unceasingly remembering your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before God our Father.

4 We know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you

5 and that our good news came to you not in word only but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in great assurance, just as you know we acted among you for your benefit.

6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the message in great affliction with joy which the Holy Spirit gave,

7 so that you became a pattern for all believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

8 For the message of the Lord sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone abroad, so that there is no need for us to speak a word.

9 For the people themselves are telling about us, what a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven \'97 his Son Jesus whom he raised from the dead and who is saving us from the coming wrath.