1 WITH regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to meet him, I beg you, brethren,

2 not to be quickly unsettled in mind nor excited by either a revelation or by a message or a letter supposed to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is close at hand.

3 Let no one lead you astray in any way, because it will not come until the Apostasy has first come and the Man of Lawlessness has been revealed \'97 the Son of Perdition,

4 who opposes and exalts himself above everything called God and every object of worship, so that he enters the Temple of God and seats himself there, declaring that he himself is God.

5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you I used to tell you this?

6 And now you know what is restraining him until he is revealed at his appointed time.

7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, only there is just now one who is restraining it until he passes out of the way.

8 And then the Lawless One will be revealed. But the Lord Jesus will sweep him away with the breath of his mouth and will make him powerless by the splendor of his coming.

9 For his coming will be when Satan is active in every sort of power and in false signs and wonders

10 and in every kind of wicked deception of those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved.

11 For this reason God sends to them a deceptive influence so that they believe a lie,

12 that all who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness may be condemned.

13 We ought always to thank God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through the Spirit's making you holy and your own faith in the truth.

14 To this he called you through the good news that we brought, so that you may share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 Now then, brethren, stand firm and hold fast the teachings that you have been taught whether by our words or by our letter.

16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal encouragement and good hope through grace,

17 encourage your hearts and make you strong in every good word and work.