1 Thessalonians 2:14-20

14Our Christian friends, you have received the same kind of trouble that the people in the churches of Judea received. People in your own country have caused you to have trouble and pain. The same thing happened to the people in Judea who believed in Christ Jesus. They received trouble from their own Jewish people.

15People like that even killed the Lord Jesus. They killed God's prophets, too. They also did bad things against us, so that we had to leave their towns. They make God become angry. They are enemies of all people,

16because they try to stop us speaking to Gentiles. They do not want God to save anyone from another nation. In this way, they continue to do more and more bad things. When their sins become too many, God has to stop them. He has become so angry that he has punished them completely.

17Our friends, we have had to go away from you for a short time. But we have not stopped thinking about you. We have wanted more and more to come to see you again.

18Yes, we really wanted to return to you. Certainly, I, Paul, tried again and again to come to you, but Satan stopped us.

19You are the people that make us very happy! We know that you will continue to trust God. So, when our Lord Jesus returns, we will be proud of you. You will be like a crown that he gives us when we stand in front of him.

20You show the great results of our work. Yes, it is because of you that we are very happy.