Bible (American Standard)/1 Thessalonians

The First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians
==Chapter 1==
 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the
Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace
to you and peace. 
 We give thanks to God always for you
all, making mention [of you] in our prayers; 
 remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and
Father; 
 knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election,
 how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but
also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and [in] much assurance;
even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward
you for your sake. 
 And ye became imitators of us, and of
the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy
of the Holy Spirit; 
 so that ye became an ensample to all
that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. 
 For from you hath
sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and
Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth;
so that we need not to speak anything. 
 For they themselves
report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you;
and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and
true God, 
 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead, [even] Jesus, who delivereth us from the
wrath to come.
==Chapter 2==
 For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in unto
you, that it hath not been found vain: 
 but having suffered
before and been shamefully treated, as ye know, at Philippi, we
waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in
much conflict. 
 For our exhortation [is] not of error, nor
of uncleanness, nor in guile: 
 but even as we have been
approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak;
not as pleasing men, but God who proveth our hearts. 
 For
neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye
know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness; 
 nor
seeking glory of men, neither from you nor from others, when we
might have claimed authority as apostles of Christ. 
 But we
were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her
own children: 
 even so, being affectionately desirous of
you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of
God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very
dear to us. 
 For ye remember, brethren, our labor and
travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of
you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. 
 Ye are
witnesses, and God [also], how holily and righteously and
unblameably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe: 
 as ye know how we [dealt with] each one of you, as a father with
his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging [you], and
testifying, 
 to the end that ye should walk worthily of
God, who calleth you into his own kingdom and glory. 
 And
for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye
received from us the word of the message, [even the word] of
God, ye accepted [it] not [as] the word of men, but, as it is in
truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe.
 For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God
which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the
same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the
Jews; 
 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets,
and drove out us, and pleased not God, and are contrary to all
men; 
 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may
be saved; to fill up their sins always: but the wrath is come
upon them to the uttermost. 
 But we, brethren, being
bereaved of you for a short season, in presence not in heart,
endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great
desire: 
 because we would fain have come unto you, I Paul
once and again; and Satan hindered us. 
 For what is our
hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our
Lord Jesus at his coming? 
 For ye are our glory and our
joy.
==Chapter 3==
 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought
it good to be left behind at Athens alone; 
 and sent
Timothy, our brother and God's minister in the gospel of Christ,
to establish you, and to comfort [you] concerning your faith;
 that no man be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves
know that hereunto we are appointed. 
 For verily, when we
were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer
affliction; even as it came to pass, and ye know. 
 For this
cause I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent that I might
know your faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you,
and our labor should be in vain. 
 But when Timothy came
even now unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of your
faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always,
longing to see us, even as we also [to see] you; 
 for this
cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress
and affliction through your faith: 
 for now we live, if ye
stand fast in the Lord. 
 For what thanksgiving can we
render again unto God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy
for your sakes before our God; 
 night and day praying
exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that
which is lacking in your faith? 
 Now may our God and
Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way unto you:
 and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one
toward another, and toward all men, even as we also [do] toward
you; 
 to the end he may establish your hearts unblameable
in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord
Jesus with all his saints.
==Chapter 4==
 Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in
the Lord Jesus, that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk
and to please God, even as ye do walk, --that ye abound more and
more. 
 For ye know what charge we gave you through the Lord
Jesus. 
 For this is the will of God, [even] your
sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication; 
 that
each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in
sanctification and honor, 
 not in the passion of lust, even
as the Gentiles who know not God; 
 that no man transgress,
and wrong his brother in the matter: because the Lord is an
avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and
testified. 
 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in
sanctification. 
 Therefore, he that rejecteth, rejecteth not
man, but God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you. 
 But
concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write
unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one
another; 
 for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that
are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye
abound more and more; 
 and that ye study to be quiet, and
to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we
charged you; 
 that ye may walk becomingly toward them that
are without, and may have need of nothing. 
 But we would
not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall
asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope.
 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with
him. 
 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the
Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep.
 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 
 then we
that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be
caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. 
 Wherefore comfort one
another with these words.
==Chapter 5==
 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye
have no need that aught be written unto you. 
 For
yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as
a thief in the night. 
 When they are saying, Peace and
safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape. 
 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief: 
 for ye are all sons of light, and
sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; 
 so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and
be sober. 
 For they that sleep sleep in the night: and they
that are drunken are drunken in the night. 
 But let us,
since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of
faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 
 For God appointed us not into wrath, but unto the obtaining of
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who died for us,
that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with
him. 
 Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other
up, even as also ye do. 
 But we beseech you, brethren, to
know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord,
and admonish you; 
 and to esteem them exceeding highly in
love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves. 
 And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage
the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all.
 See that none render unto any one evil for evil; but
always follow after that which is good, one toward another, and
toward all. 
 Rejoice always; 
 pray without ceasing;
 in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus to you-ward. 
 Quench not the Spirit; 
 despise not prophesyings; 
 prove all things; hold fast
that which is good; 
 abstain from every form of evil.
 And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may
your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Faithful is he
that calleth you, who will also do it. 
 Brethren, pray for
us. 
 Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. 
 I
adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the
brethren. 
 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.