2 Tesalonika 1:1-2

Salutation

1:1 From Paul ¹  and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians ²  in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1:2 Grace and peace to you ³  from God the ⁴  Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

2 Tesalonika 1:7-8

1:7 and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed ⁵  from heaven with his mighty angels. ⁶  1:8 With flaming fire he will mete out ⁷  punishment on those who do not know God ⁸  and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

2 Tesalonika 1:10

1:10 when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired ⁹  on that day among all who have believed – and you did in fact believe our testimony. ¹⁰ 

2 Tesalonika 1:12--2:2

1:12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to ¹¹  the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Day of the Lord

2:1 Now regarding the arrival ¹²  of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, ¹³  we ask you, brothers and sisters, ¹⁴  2:2 not to be easily ¹⁵  shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, ¹⁶  to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

2 Tesalonika 2:8

2:8 and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord ¹⁷  will destroy by the breath of his mouth and wipe out by the manifestation of his arrival.

2 Tesalonika 2:14

2:14 He called you to this salvation ¹⁸  through our gospel, so that you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁹ 

2 Tesalonika 2:16

2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope,

2 Tesalonika 3:6

Response to the Undisciplined

3:6 But we command you, brothers and sisters, ²⁰  in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined ²¹  life ²²  and not according to the tradition they ²³  received from us.

2 Tesalonika 3:12

3:12 Now such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and so provide their own food to eat. ²⁴ 

2 Tesalonika 3:18

3:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. ²⁵ 

[1:1]  ¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ² map For the location of Thessalonica see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[1:2]  ³ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A F G I 0278 Ï lat sy sa) have ἡμῶν (Jhmwn) after πατρός (patros), reading “God our Father,” in apparent emulation of Paul’s almost universal style. The omission of the pronoun (the reading of B D P 0111^vid 33 1739 1881 pc) seems to be the original wording of this salutation. As well, the intrinsic evidence also supports the shorter reading: If 2 Thessalonians is authentic, it was one of Paul’s earliest letters, and, if so, his stereotyped salutation was still in embryonic form (see discussion at 1 Thess 1:1). NA²⁷ places the word in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Grk “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus.”

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Grk “angels of power,” translated as an attributive genitive.

[1:8]  ⁷ tn Grk “meting out,” as a description of Jesus Christ in v. 7. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 8 in the translation.

[1:8]  ⁸ sn An allusion to Jer 10:25, possibly also to Ps 79:6 and Isa 66:15.

[1:10]  ⁹ tn Or “marveled at.”

[1:10]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “because our testimony to you was believed.”

[1:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “by means of.”

[2:1]  ¹² tn Or perhaps “return” (cf. CEV).

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “our gathering with him.”

[2:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:3.

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “quickly, soon.”

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “as through us.”

[2:8]  ¹⁷ tc ‡ Several important witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western traditions, as well as many other witnesses, read ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsous, “Jesus”) after κύριος (kurios, “Lord”; so א A D* F G L^c P Ψ 0278 33 81 104 365 1241 2464 pc latt sy co). But there is sufficient evidence in the Alexandrian tradition for the shorter reading (B 1739 1881), supported by the Byzantine text as well as Irenaeus. Although it is possible that scribes overlooked ᾿Ιησοῦς if the two nomina sacra occurred together (kMsiMs), since “the Lord Jesus” is a frequent enough appellation, it looks to be a motivated reading. NA²⁷ places ᾿Ιησοῦς in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[2:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “to which,” referring to the main idea of v. 13.

[2:14]  ¹⁹ sn That you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. For Paul the ultimate stage of salvation is glorification (Rom 8:30).

[3:6]  ²⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:3.

[3:6]  ²¹ tn Or “unruly, out of line.” The particular violation Paul has in mind is idleness (as described in vv. 8-11), so this could be translated to reflect that.

[3:6]  ²² tn Grk “walking in an undisciplined way” (“walking” is a common NT idiom for one’s way of life or conduct).

[3:6]  ²³ tc The reading “you received” (παρελάβετε, parelabete) is found predominately in Western witnesses (F G 1505 2464 pc), although the support of B and the Sahidic version strengthens the reading considerably. The reading “they received” is found in two different forms: παρελάβοσαν (parelabosan; in א* A [D*] 0278 33 pc) and παρέλαβον (parelabon; in א² D² Ψ 1739 1881 Ï). (παρέλαβον is evidently a correction of παρελάβοσαν to the more common spelling for the third person aorist form). The external evidence is divided fairly evenly, with παρελάβετε and παρελάβοσαν each having adequate support. Internal evidence leans toward “they received”: Given the second person reading, there is little reason why scribes would intentionally change it to a third person plural, and especially an archaic form at that. There is ample reason, however, for scribes to change the third person form to the second person form given that in the prior context παράδοσις (paradosis, “tradition”) is used with a relative clause (as here) with a second person verb (see 2:15). The third person form should be regarded as original.

[3:12]  ²⁴ tn Grk “that by working quietly they may eat their own bread.”

[3:18]  ²⁵ tc Most witnesses, including some early and important ones (א² A D F G Ψ Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the witnesses for the omission are among the best mss (א* B 0278 6 33 1739 1881* 2464 sa), giving sufficient base to prefer the shorter reading.