1 Thessalonians 2:3-16

English Standard Version

³For ^(A)our appeal does not spring from ^(B)error or ^(C)impurity or ^(D)any attempt to deceive, ⁴but just as we have been approved by God ^(E)to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not ^(F)to please man, but to please God ^(G)who tests our hearts. ⁵^(H)For we never came with words of flattery,^[a] as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—^(I)God is witness. ⁶^(J)Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, ^(K)though we could have made ^(L)demands as ^(M)apostles of Christ. ⁷But we were ^(N)gentle^[b] among you, ^(O)like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. ⁸So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God ^(P)but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

⁹For you remember, brothers, ^(Q)our labor and toil: we ^(R)worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and ^(S)God also, ^(T)how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. ¹¹For you know how, ^(U)like a father with his children, ¹²we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and ^(V)charged ^(W)you to walk in a manner worthy of God, ^(X)who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

¹³And ^(Y)we also thank God constantly^[c] for this, that when you received ^(Z)the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it ^(AA)not as the word of men^[d] but as what it really is, the word of God, ^(AB)which is at work in you believers. ¹⁴For you, brothers, ^(AC)became imitators of ^(AD)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For ^(AE)you suffered the same things from your own countrymen ^(AF)as they did from the Jews,^[e] ¹⁵^(AG)who killed both the Lord Jesus and ^(AH)the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and ^(AI)oppose all mankind ¹⁶^(AJ)by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always ^(AK)to fill up the measure of their sins. But ^(AL)wrath has come upon them at last!^[f]

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Footnotes

1 Thessalonians 2:5 Or with a flattering speech
1 Thessalonians 2:7 Some manuscripts infants
1 Thessalonians 2:13 Or without ceasing
1 Thessalonians 2:13 The Greek word anthropoi can refer to both men and women
1 Thessalonians 2:14 The Greek word Ioudaioi can refer to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, who opposed the Christian faith in that time
1 Thessalonians 2:16 Or completely, or forever