Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other,

so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,

which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer;

since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,

and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,

in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.

"But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.

"And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"