2 Thessalonians 2:1-6

The Day of the Lord

2:1 Now regarding the arrival ¹  of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, ²  we ask you, brothers and sisters, ³  2:2 not to be easily ⁴  shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, ⁵  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 ⁶  and the man of lawlessness ⁷  is revealed, the son of destruction. ⁸  2:4 He ⁹  opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat ¹⁰  in God’s temple, displaying himself as God. ¹¹  2:5 Surely you recall ¹²  that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you. 2:6 And so ¹³  you know what holds him back, ¹⁴  so that he will be revealed in his own time.

¹ tn Or perhaps “return” (cf. CEV).

² tn Grk “our gathering with him.”

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

⁴ tn Or “quickly, soon.”

⁵ tn Grk “as through us.”

⁶ tn Grk “for unless the rebellion comes first.” The clause about “the day” is understood from v. 2.

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Or “the one destined for destruction.”

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ sn Allusions to Isa 14:13-14; Dan 11:36; Ezek 28:2-9 respectively.

¹¹ tn Grk “that he is God.”

¹² tn Grk “You do remember, don’t you?”

¹³ tn Grk “and now,” but this shows the logical result of his previous teaching.

¹⁴ tn Grk “the thing that restrains.”