2.Thessalonicher 2,3 | New International Reader’s Version

The man of sin

1 Brothers and sisters, we want to ask you something. It has to do with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It concerns the time when we will go to be with him.

2 What if you receive a message that is supposed to have come from us? What if it says that the day of the Lord has already come? If it does, we ask you not to become easily upset or alarmed. Don’t be upset whether that message is spoken or written or prophesied.

3 Don’t let anyone trick you in any way. That day will not come until people rise up against God. It will not come until the man of sin appears. He is a marked man. He is headed for ruin.

4 He will oppose everything that is called God. He will oppose everything that is worshipped. He will give himself power over everything. He will set himself up in God’s temple. He will announce that he himself is God.

5 Don’t you remember? When I was with you, I used to tell you these things.

6 Now you know what is holding back the man of sin. He is held back so that he can make his appearance at the right time.

7 The secret power of sin is already at work. But the one who now holds back that power will keep doing it until he is taken out of the way.

8 Then the man of sin will appear. The Lord Jesus will overthrow him with the breath of his mouth. The glorious brightness of Jesus’ coming will destroy the man of sin.

9 The coming of the man of sin will fit how Satan works. The man of sin will show his power through all kinds of signs and wonders. These signs and wonders will lead people astray.

10 So people who are dying will be fooled by this evil. These people are dying because they refuse to love the truth. The truth would save them.

11 So God will fool them completely. Then they will believe the lie.

12 Many will not believe the truth. They will take pleasure in evil. They will be judged.

Remain strong in the faith

13 Brothers and sisters, we should always thank God for you. The Lord loves you. That’s because God chose you as the first to be saved. Salvation comes through the Holy Spirit’s work. He makes people holy. It also comes through believing the truth.

14 He chose you to be saved by accepting the good news that we preach. And you will share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 Brothers and sisters, remain strong in the faith. Hold on to what we taught you. We passed our teachings on to you by what we preached and wrote.

16 Our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father loved us. By his grace God gave us comfort that will last for ever. The hope he gave us is good. May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father

17 comfort your hearts. May they make you strong in every good thing you do and say.

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English Standard Version

The Man of Lawlessness

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,*

2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness* is revealed, the son of destruction,*

4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,

10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Firm

13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits* to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,

17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

The ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®) copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV^® Text Edition: 2016. The ESV^® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. The ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.