ቀዳማዊት፡ መልእክተ፡ ጳውሎስ፡ ኀበ፡ ሰብአ፡ ተሰሎንቄ፡

Chapter 1 How it is fitting to show the likeness of the brothers From Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of Thessalonica, the believers in God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace be to you and grace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank God always on your behalf, and we remember you continually in our prayers. And we recall before God our Father the work of your faith, and the steadfastness of your love, and the endurance of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we know, our beloved brothers, how God has chosen you. For our teaching to you was not by word alone, but also by power and by the Holy Spirit and by the faith of the believer. And you yourselves have seen how it was among you on your behalf. And now we have been likened to you and have received the word of God with much suffering together with joy in the Holy Spirit.

And we have shown you the likeness of all those who believed in Macedonia and Achaia, for from you they learned the word of our Lord and heard it. And not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place where the faith in God has been heard, your faith is proclaimed. And we do not wish to say anything concerning you, but they themselves testify how you were before us and how you turned to God from the worship of idols, so that you might be adorned for the living and righteous God, while you await his Son from the heavens, who rose from the dead, Jesus Christ, and he will save us from the coming judgment. Chapter 2 Concerning the swiftness of their coming You yourselves testify, our brothers, how we acted for you, and our coming to you was not in vain. Know that we suffered and labored as you testified in Philippi, and then we told you with much zeal the teaching of Christ in the grace of our God.

For our teaching is not of error nor of falsehood, nor is it of deceit. For we have believed in what the Lord has entrusted to us, and we have been confirmed in the teaching of his Gospel. Thus we proclaim, and it is not as men who lie, without the Lord who has entrusted to us our heart. And when your faith in word was as you were taught, and we did not deceive you with pretext; we heard the Lord in this. And we do not wish that men lie to us, neither you nor another, while we bear the burden as the apostles of Christ. For we have been as children among you, and as a nurse who holds an infant. Thus we also love you and we are zealous for you as we come to you; and not only the Gospel of the Lord, but also our own soul, for you have become our beloved. And remember our brothers, our fasts and our labors day and night; we strive so that we may not burden any one of you.

And for you, we are witnesses, and the Lord, as we have preached to you, the teaching of his Gospel to the Lord in righteousness, and in truth, and in purity, among all those who believe. As you have believed, each one of you, as a father to his son, we exhort you and we admonish you. And we hear for you that you are zealous and upright in what is fitting for you toward the Lord, who has called you into the kingdom of his glory, because of the acceptance of the word of the Lord. Because of this, we also always praise the Lord, since you have accepted the word of his commandment to the Lord, and not the word of human rumor, but rather the word of the Lord as it is. And it will help you also in deed for those to whom you have believed. And you, our brothers, have been likened in the church of the Lord to those who in Judea are believers in Jesus Christ, because you also have suffered from your people, as they also suffered from the Jews, who killed our Lord Jesus Christ.

And for his prophets, whom they drove out from among them, and for us, and they do not please the Lord, and they contend with every man. And they hinder us from preaching to the Gentiles, in that they live as if their sins will be fulfilled for the licentious. And behold, their punishment has reached them, eternal, because of the remembrance of love. But we, our brothers, as a child of death has become from among you in these days, for the face is still present, and it has gone from the heart. And we, each one, desire to see your face. And I, Paul, greatly desired to come to you a hundred times, and twice, and Satan hindered me. Who is our hope and our joy and the crown of our strength? Are you not, before our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For you are our glory and our joy. Chapter 3 How the fruit of hope does not wither. And we, having been forced, remained in Athens, alone, by ourselves. And we have now sent Timothy, our brother, the servant of God and our helper in the teaching of Christ, so that he may strengthen you and make you firm concerning your faith.

...so that you may not be shaken, and that not one of you may fall away in this your suffering. Remember for yourselves that this is the same one who persecutes us. And when I was among you, I told you beforehand, as I did, that we would suffer and they would mock us. And as you know, it was he. Because of his companions, the envoys. And because of this, I, being unable to bear it, sent Timothy to you, to know your faith, whether it is as I exhorted you, which is fitting. And so that our zeal for you may be established. And now, when Timothy arrived to us from you, and told us of your faith and your love, and how you always remember us kindly, and you desire to see us, just as we also desire to see you. Because of this, we rejoiced, our brothers, because of all our suffering and affliction on account of your faith. For now you have become more than you were when you stood in the Lord, through the prayer of the teachers at all times.

I saw the cunning deceit, how they have made God rejoice over all the joy that we rejoiced on your account, without our being able to flee to our God day and night. And again we pray that we may see your face and that the deficiency of your faith may be fulfilled. And may God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ straighten our path to you. And for you also may He increase and multiply your love among yourselves and with each one individually, as we love you. And may your heart be strengthened in purity and holiness before God our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the saints. Chapter 4 Concerning being far from the desire of the flesh. And now, our brothers, we tell you and we admonish you in our Lord Jesus Christ, as we commanded you among us in what is fitting, that you may be zealous and serve God, and as you have gone, again that you may increase and multiply in this.

And be amazed, as we commanded you in our Lord Jesus Christ. For this is the commandment of God, and His will is your preordination, and that you may beware and keep away from fornication. And let each one know his own vessel and purify it in holiness and honor. And do not be defiled by lust, like those who do not know God. And do not give yourselves to do this, and do not be proud, and do not let your anger be kindled in everything. For God is the avenger concerning all this, as I previously told you and made you hear. For God has called us to impurity rather than to holiness. And now, who would deny that it is not for a person to deny, but for God who gave you the Holy Spirit? And because of the love of your anger, you wish to write to you. For you yourselves are learned before God, so that you may be loved among yourselves. And likewise, do also with all your brothers who are in all Macedonia.

And we admonish you, our brothers, to multiply and increase, so that you may be the first, and perform your deeds, and be girded with your hands, as we commanded you. So that you may be free before those who are perverse, and not be deceived, and not go to anyone, as those who have lost hope, who have cut off hope. And we desire that you know, our brothers, concerning those who have died, that they are not lost, that you should not grieve over them, as all people whose hope is cut off. And since we believe that just as Christ died and rose, so also God will raise the dead in Jesus and bring them with Him. And this we tell you by the word of God, we the living, who remain until the coming of our Lord, and we will meet the dead. For our Lord will command with the chief of angels, and the trumpet of God will be blown, which will descend from heaven, and the dead will rise before those who died in the faith of Christ.

And then we, who are alive, who remain, we shall be mixed with them in a cloud together, as we shall receive our Lord in the air, and we shall go indeed forever to our Lord. And now learn this matter. Chapter 5 Concerning the matter of the coming. And concerning his age, his day, and his time, our brothers, if you wish, we shall write to you. For you, marvel at the subtlety, that the day of our Lord is like the coming of a thief in the night; like that his coming will be. When those who deny him say that he is in peace and tranquility, then suddenly the deed will come upon them, as a woman who comes in pregnancy, and they cannot hide it. And you, our brothers, are in darkness, so that the day may find you like a thief. For all of you are children of light, and children of the day, and you are not children of the night, nor children of darkness.

And we, however, as I said, we shall not awaken in our consciousness and be troubled and wander, for those who sleep at night sleep, and those who get drunk at night get drunk. But we, as children of the day, we awaken and put on the garment of zeal of faith and of love, and we gird on the sword of hope of salvation. For God has prepared us for death rather than for life and for salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us as a ransom. Whether we are awake or whether we are asleep, all of us live with him through the endurance of the end. And now, rejoice in your end because of this, and let one build up another, as you do again. And we beseech you, our brothers, to visit those who are sick among you, and those who stand for you on behalf of our Lord and teach you. Honor them greatly and love them for their deeds, and trust them. And we beseech you, our brothers, to rebuke the perverse, to comfort the sorrowful, to correct the weak, and to be patient over all.

Now, do not do evil deeds of wickedness. But rather, always strive for good among yourselves, and for everyone, as is fitting, pray for the brothers. Rejoice at all times, and pray continually. Thank the Lord God the Father for every deed. For this is the will of God, from among you, in Jesus Christ. Do not extinguish the Spirit. And do not be shaken by prophecy. And counsel all, and strengthen what is good. And be ashamed of every evil deed. And may the Lord God of peace sanctify you completely, and purify your soul, your spirit, and your flesh in purity until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the righteous one who called you, he will do this for you. O our brothers, pray for us. Greet all our brothers with holy greetings, and greet one another. I adjure you by our Lord to read this book before all our holy brothers. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.