| 1:1 | TO the church of the Thessalonians, founded on God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace from Paul, Silvanus and Timothy. |
| 1:2 | We are always thankful to God as we pray for you all, |
| 1:3 | for we never forget that your faith has meant solid achievement, your love has meant hard work, and the hope that you have in our Lord Jesus Christ means sheer dogged endurance in the life that you live before God, the Father of us all. |
| 1:4 | We know, brothers, that God not only loves you but has selected you for a special purpose. |
| 1:5 | For we remember how our gospel came to you not as mere words, but as a message with power behind itthe convincing power of the Holy Spirit. You know what sort of men we were when we lived among you. |
| 1:6 | You set yourselves to copy us, and indeed, the Lord himself. You remember how, although accepting the message meant serious trouble, yet you experienced the joy of the Holy Spirit. |
| 1:7 | You thus became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and Achaia. |
| 1:8 | You have become a sort of soundingboard from which the Word of the Lord has rung out, not only in Macedonia and Achaia but everywhere where the story of your faith in God has become known. We find we don't have to tell people about it. |
| 1:9 | They tell us the story of our coming to you: how you turned from idols to serve the true living God, |
| 1:10 | and how your whole lives now look forward to the coming of his Son from Heaventhe Son Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and who delivered us from the judgment which hung over our heads. |
1 Thessalonians 1 - Philips NT in Modern English
