2 Thessalonians 1:4-10

1:4 As a result we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring.

Encouragement in Persecution

1:5 This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment, to make you worthy ¹  of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you are suffering. 1:6 For it is right ²  for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 1:7 and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed ³  from heaven with his mighty angels. ⁴  1:8 With flaming fire he will mete out ⁵  punishment on those who do not know God ⁶  and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 1:9 They ⁷  will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, ⁸  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 

[1:5]  ¹ tn Grk “so that you may be made worthy.” The passive infinitive καταξιωθῆναι (kataxiwqhnai) has been translated as an active construction in English for stylistic reasons.

[1:6]  ² tn Grk “if in fact/since,” as a continuation of the preceding.

[1:7]  ³ tn Grk “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus.”

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “angels of power,” translated as an attributive genitive.

[1:8]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn An allusion to Jer 10:25, possibly also to Ps 79:6 and Isa 66:15.

[1:9]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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”).

[1:10]  ⁹ tn Or “marveled at.”

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