2 Thessalonians 1-3

Complete Jewish Bible

1 From: Sha’ul, Sila and Timothy

To: The Messianic Community of the Thessalonians, united with God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah:

²Grace to you and shalom from God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

³We have to keep thanking God for you always, brothers, as is appropriate; because your trust continues to grow greater, and the love you each have for one another continues to increase. ⁴Therefore, we boast about you in the congregations of God because of your perseverance and trust in all the persecutions and troubles you are going through. ⁵This is clear evidence that God’s judgment is just; and as a result, you will be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which you are suffering. ⁶For it is justice for God to pay back trouble to those who are troubling you, ⁷and to give rest along with us to you who are being troubled, when the Lord Yeshua is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels ⁸in a fiery flame. Then he will punish those who don’t know God,^[a] that is, those who don’t listen to the Good News of our Lord Yeshua and obey it. ⁹They will suffer the just penalty of eternal destruction, far away from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might.^[b] ¹⁰On that Day, when he comes to be glorified by his holy people and admired by all who have trusted, you will be among them, because you trusted our witness to you.

¹¹With this in view, we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill by his power every good purpose of yours and every action stemming from your trust. ¹²In this way, the name of our Lord Yeshua will be glorified in you, and you in him, in accordance with the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

2 But in connection with the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and our gathering together to meet him, we ask you, brothers, ²not to be easily shaken in your thinking or anxious because of a spirit or a spoken message or a letter supposedly from us claiming that the Day of the Lord has already come. ³Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way.

For the Day will not come until after the Apostasy has come and the man who separates himself from Torah has been revealed, the one destined for doom. ⁴He will oppose himself to everything that people call a god or make an object of worship; he will put himself above them all, so that he will sit in the Temple of God and proclaim that he himself is God.^[c]

⁵Don’t you remember that when I was still with you, I used to tell you these things? ⁶And now you know what is restraining, so that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷For already this separating from Torah is at work secretly, but it will be secretly only until he who is restraining is out of the way. ⁸Then the one who embodies separation from Torah will be revealed, the one whom the Lord Yeshua will slay with the breath of his mouth^[d] and destroy by the glory of his coming.

⁹When this man who avoids Torah comes, the Adversary will give him the power to work all kinds of false miracles, signs and wonders. ¹⁰He will enable him to deceive, in all kinds of wicked ways, those who are headed for destruction because they would not receive the love of the truth that could have saved them. ¹¹This is why God is causing them to go astray, so that they will believe the Lie. ¹²The result will be that all who have not believed the truth, but have taken their pleasure in wickedness, will be condemned.

¹³But we have to keep thanking God for you always, brothers whom the Lord loves, because God chose you as firstfruits for deliverance by giving you the holiness that has its origin in the Spirit and the faithfulness that has its origin in the truth. ¹⁴He called you to this through our Good News, so that you could have the glory of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

¹⁵Therefore, brothers, stand firm; and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, whether we spoke them or wrote them in a letter. ¹⁶And may our Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself and God our Father, who has loved us and by his grace given us eternal comfort and a good hope, ¹⁷comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.

3 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the Lord’s message may spread rapidly and receive honor, just as it did with you; ²and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has trust. ³But the Lord is worthy of trust; he will make you firm and guard you from the Evil One. ⁴Yes, united with the Lord we are confident about you, that you are doing the things we are telling you to do, and that you will keep on doing them. ⁵May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and the perseverance which the Messiah gives.

⁶Now, in the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah we command you, brothers, to stay away from any brother who is leading a life of idleness, a life not in keeping with the tradition you received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know how you must imitate us, that we were not idle when we were among you. ⁸We did not accept anyone’s food without paying; on the contrary, we labored and toiled, day and night, working so as not to be a burden to any of you. ⁹It was not that we hadn’t the right to be supported, but so that we could make ourselves an example to imitate. ¹⁰For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: if someone won’t work, he shouldn’t eat! ¹¹We hear that some of you are leading a life of idleness — not busy working, just busybodies! ¹²We command such people — and in union with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah we urge them — to settle down, get to work, and earn their own living. ¹³And you brothers who are doing what is good, don’t slack off! ¹⁴Furthermore, if anyone does not obey what we are saying in this letter, take note of him and have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed. ¹⁵But don’t consider him an enemy; on the contrary, confront him as a brother and try to help him change.