1 Thessalonians 2:5

2:5 For we never appeared ¹  with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed – God is our witness –

1 Thessalonians 2:18

2:18 For we wanted to come to you (I, Paul, in fact tried again and again) ²  but Satan thwarted us.

1 Thessalonians 3:3

3:3 so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.

1 Thessalonians 3:7

3:7 So ³  in all our distress and affliction, we were reassured about you, brothers and sisters, ⁴  through your faith.

1 Thessalonians 4:8

4:8 Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority ⁵  but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

5:14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, ⁶  admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient toward all.

1 Thessalonians 5:27

5:27 I call on you solemnly in the Lord ⁷  to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. ⁸ 

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¹ tn Or “came on the scene,” “came.”

² tn Or “several times”; Grk, “both once and twice.” The literal expression “once and twice” is frequently used as a Greek idiom referring to an indefinite low number, but more than once (“several times”); see L&N 60.70.

³ tn Or “for this reason.”

⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.

⁵ tn Grk “rejecting man.”

⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.

⁷ tn Grk “I adjure you by the Lord,” “I put you under oath before the Lord.”

⁸ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א² A Ψ [33] 1739 1881 Ï ar vg sy bo), read “holy” before “brothers [and sisters]” (ἁγίοις ἀδελφοῖς, Jagioi" adelfoi"). It is possible that ἁγίοις dropped out by way of homoioteleuton (in uncial script the words would be written agioisadelfois), but it is equally possible that the adjective was added because of the influence of ἁγίῳ (Jagiw) in v. 26. Another internal consideration is that the expression ἅγιοι ἀδελφοί ({agioi adelfoi, “holy brothers”) is not found elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum, though Col 1:2 comes close. But this fact could be argued either way: It may suggest that such an expression is not Pauline; on the other hand, the unusualness of the expression could have resulted in an alteration by some scribes. At the same time, since 1 Thessalonians is one of the earliest of Paul’s letters, and written well before he addresses Christians as saints (ἅγιοι) in 1 Corinthians for the first time, one might argue that Paul’s own forms of expression were going through something of a metamorphosis. Scribes insensitive to this fact could well impute later Pauline collocations onto his earlier letters. The internal evidence seems to support, albeit slightly, the omission of ἁγίοις here. Externally, most of the better witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א* B D F G 0278 it sa) combine in having the shorter reading. Although the rating of “A” in UBS⁴ for the omission seems too generous, this reading is still to be preferred.

tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.