But you, brothers and sisters, ¹  are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would.

For you know quite well that the day of the Lord ¹  will come in the same way as a thief in the night. ² 

For people everywhere ¹  report how you welcomed us ²  and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness.

For who is our hope or joy or crown to boast of ¹  before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not of course you?

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that ¹  God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. ² 

and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. ¹ 

¹  although we could have imposed our weight as apostles of Christ; instead we became ²  little children ³  among you. Like a nursing mother caring for her own children,

For in fact when we were with you, we were telling you in advance that we would suffer affliction, and so it has happened, as you well know. ¹ 

But since we are of the day, we must stay sober by putting on the breastplate ¹  of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation. ² 

For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, ¹  of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews,

We ¹  sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God ²  in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen you and encourage you about your faith,

Now on the topic of times and seasons, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  you have no need for anything to be written to you.

But when we were separated from you, brothers and sisters, ¹  for a short time (in presence, not in affection) ²  we became all the more fervent in our great desire ³  to see you in person. ⁴ 

So ¹  when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.

For you recall, brothers and sisters, ¹  our toil and drudgery: By working night and day so as not to impose a burden on any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.

For from you the message of the Lord ¹  has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, ²  so that we do not need to say anything.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, ¹  and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, ¹  that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep.

with such affection for you ¹  we were happy ²  to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.