2 Tesalonika 1:7--2:12

1:7 and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed ¹  from heaven with his mighty angels. ²  1:8 With flaming fire he will mete out ³  punishment on those who do not know God ⁴  and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 1:9 They ⁵  will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, ⁶  1:10 when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired ⁷  on that day among all who have believed – and you did in fact believe our testimony. ⁸  1:11 And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling ⁹  and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith, 1:12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to ¹⁰  the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Day of the Lord

2:1 Now regarding the arrival ¹¹  of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, ¹²  we ask you, brothers and sisters, ¹³  2:2 not to be easily ¹⁴  shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, ¹⁵  to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes ¹⁶  and the man of lawlessness ¹⁷  is revealed, the son of destruction. ¹⁸  2:4 He ¹⁹  opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat ²⁰  in God’s temple, displaying himself as God. ²¹  2:5 Surely you recall ²²  that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you. 2:6 And so ²³  you know what holds him back, ²⁴  so that he will be revealed in his own time. 2:7 For the hidden power of lawlessness ²⁵  is already at work. However, the one who holds him back ²⁶  will do so until he is taken out of the way, 2:8 and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord ²⁷  will destroy by the breath of his mouth and wipe out by the manifestation of his arrival. 2:9 The arrival of the lawless one ²⁸  will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles ²⁹  and signs and false wonders, 2:10 and with every kind of evil deception directed against ³⁰  those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth ³¹  so as to be saved. 2:11 Consequently ³²  God sends on them a deluding influence ³³  so that they will believe what is false. 2:12 And so ³⁴  all of them who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evil will be condemned. ³⁵ 

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

[1:7]  ² tn Grk “angels of power,” translated as an attributive genitive.

[1:8]  ³ 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]  ⁴ sn An allusion to Jer 10:25, possibly also to Ps 79:6 and Isa 66:15.

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Grk “who,” describing the people mentioned in v. 8. A new sentence was started here in the translation by replacing the relative pronoun with a personal pronoun.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Or “power,” or “might.” The construction can also be translated as an attributed genitive: “from his glorious strength” (cf. TEV “glorious might”; CEV “glorious strength”; NLT “glorious power”).

[1:9]  sn An allusion to Isa 2:10, 19, 21.

[1:10]  ⁷ tn Or “marveled at.”

[1:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “because our testimony to you was believed.”

[1:11]  ⁹ tn Or “your calling.”

[1:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “by means of.”

[2:1]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps “return” (cf. CEV).

[2:1]  ¹² tn Grk “our gathering with him.”

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:3.

[2:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “quickly, soon.”

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “as through us.”

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “for unless the rebellion comes first.” The clause about “the day” is understood from v. 2.

[2:3]  ¹⁷ tc Most mss (A D F G Ψ Ï lat sy) read ἁμαρτίας (Jamartia", “of sin”) here, but several important mss (א B 0278 6 81 1739 1881 al co) read ἀνομίας (anomia", “of lawlessness”). Although external support for ἁμαρτίας is broader, the generally earlier and better witnesses are on the side of ἀνομίας. Internally, since ἁμαρτία (Jamartia, “sin”) occurs nearly ten times as often as ἀνομία (anomia, “lawlessness”) in the corpus Paulinum, scribes would be expected to change the text to the more familiar term. At the same time, the mention of ἀνομία in v. 7 and ὁ ἄνομος (Jo anomo", “the lawless one”) in v. 8, both of which look back to v. 3, may have prompted scribes to change the text toward ἀνομίας. The internal evidence is thus fairly evenly balanced. Although a decision is difficult, ἀνομίας has slightly greater probability of authenticity than ἁμαρτίας.

[2:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the one destined for destruction.”

[2:4]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the one who opposes,” describing the figure in v. 3. A new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the personal pronoun (“he”) and translating the participle ἀντικείμενος (antikeimeno") as a finite verb.

[2:4]  ²⁰ sn Allusions to Isa 14:13-14; Dan 11:36; Ezek 28:2-9 respectively.

[2:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “that he is God.”

[2:5]  ²² tn Grk “You do remember, don’t you?”

[2:6]  ²³ tn Grk “and now,” but this shows the logical result of his previous teaching.

[2:6]  ²⁴ tn Grk “the thing that restrains.”

[2:7]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the mystery of lawlessness.” In Paul “mystery” often means “revealed truth, something formerly hidden but now made widely known,” but that does not make sense with the verb of this clause (“to be at work, to be active”).

[2:7]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the one who restrains.” This gives a puzzling contrast to the impersonal phrase in v. 6 (“the thing that restrains”). The restraint can be spoken of as a force or as a person. Some have taken this to mean the Roman Empire in particular or human government in general, since these are forces that can also be seen embodied in a person, the emperor or governing head. But apocalyptic texts like Revelation and Daniel portray human government of the end times as under Satanic control, not holding back his influence. Also the power to hold back Satanic forces can only come from God. So others understand this restraint to be some force from God: the preaching of the gospel or the working of the Holy Spirit through God’s people.

[2:8]  ²⁷ 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.

[2:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “whose coming,” referring to the lawless one. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek construction, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “every miracle.”

[2:10]  ³⁰ tn Grk “deception for/toward.”

[2:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “they did not accept the love of the truth.”

[2:11]  ³² tn Grk “and for this reason.”

[2:11]  ³³ tn Grk “a working of error.”

[2:12]  ³⁴ tn Grk “that.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:12]  ³⁵ tn Grk “be judged,” but in this context the term clearly refers to a judgment of condemnation (BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 5.b.α; cf. KJV “that they all might be damned”). CEV views the condemnation as punishment (“will be punished”).