World English Bible · Under Rome
1 Thessalonians 2
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
For you yourselves know, brothers, our visit to you wasn't in , but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you know, at , we grew bold in our to tell you the of in much conflict. For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deception. But even as we have been approved by to be entrusted with the , so we speak—not as pleasing men, but , who tests our . For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness ( is ), nor seeking from men (neither from you nor from others), when we might have claimed as of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children. Even so, affectionately for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not the of only, but also our own , because you had become very dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the of . You are with how , righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who . As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a does his own children, to the end that you should walk worthily of , who calls you into his own Kingdom and . For this cause we also thank without ceasing that when you received from us the word of the message of , you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, word, which also works in you who . For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of which are in in Christ ; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the who killed both and their own , and drove us out, and don't please , and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the that they may be , to fill up their always. But has come on them to the uttermost. But we, brothers, being bereaved of you for a short season in , not in , tried even harder to see your with great , because we wanted to come to you—indeed, I, , once and again—but hindered us. For what is our , or joy, or of rejoicing? Isn't it even you, before our at his coming? For you are our and our joy.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.