You are witnesses, and so is God, as to how holy and righteous and blameless our conduct was toward you who believe.

For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, ¹  about our coming to you – it has not proven to be purposeless. ² 

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.

in that ¹  our gospel did not come to you merely in words, ²  but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction (surely you recall the character we displayed when we came among you to help you). ³ 

For the appeal we make ¹  does not come ²  from error or impurity or with deceit,

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. ¹ 

For we wanted to come to you (I, Paul, in fact tried again and again) ¹  but Satan thwarted us.

So when we could bear it no longer, we decided to stay on in Athens ¹  alone.

He died ¹  for us so that whether we are alert or asleep ²  we will come to life together with him.

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 

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 

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.

But although we suffered earlier and were mistreated in Philippi, ¹  as you know, we had the courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God ²  in spite of much opposition.

but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we declare it, not to please people but God, who examines our hearts.

And so ¹  we too constantly thank God that when you received God’s message that you heard from us, ²  you accepted it not as a human message, ³  but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe.