The Greek that is typically translated as “eternity,” “forever,” or “forever and ever” in English are translated in Mairasi as “mashed out infinitely.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (Source: Lloyd Peckham)
In Lisu the phrase “forever and ever” is translated as ꓕꓲꓽ ꓞꓲꓼ ꓕꓲ ꓑ — thi tsi thi pa, verbatim translated as “one – lifetime – one – world.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 57f.)
In Makonde it is often translated as navyaka or “years and years.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Thessalonians 1:9:
Uma: “Those people who do not believe will be punished forever, they will be cast far from the Lord, with the result that they no longer will see his power and bigness of life [glory].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “God will punish them in hell without end. They will be separated from the Leader and they will really not see his glory/brightness, which is the sign of his power.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “His punishment to them will be death without end. They will be separated from the Lord and His powerful shiningness.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The nature of their punishment, they will be separated forever from the Lord Jesus and they will not be-seeing his amazing power.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Really the punishment for them will be unending hardship/suffering, in which they are separated then for ever from the Lord and the praiseworthiness/glory of his supernatural-power.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “These people will go to be punished, they will be lost forever. They will be put apart from the face and eye of the Lord Jesus. They will not be allowed to live where it will be shown how great is his power.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-chikara (御力) or “power (of God)” in the referenced verses.
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
or, most often, referring to Jesus
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
Yagaria: Souve, originally “war lord” (source: Renck, p. 94)
Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
Chichewa: AmbuyeAmbuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-mae (御前) or “before (God)” in the referenced verses. In some cases in can also be used in reference to being before a king, such as in 1 Samuel 16:16.
They is a general word, “such people” as Paul has just described.
The word for punishment normally means a penalty imposed by a court of law.
The word here rendered suffer is less emphatic than the unrelated words for “suffer” which Paul uses in verses 5 and 6. It means simply “undergo.” Moffatt translates “they will pay the penalty.”
Eternal destruction is a difficult phrase, not only from the theological point of view, which does not concern us directly here, but also for the translator. Destruction suggests that the persecutors will cease to exist, but if this were so, how could their destruction be eternal except in the sense of “final” or “permanent”? This same word for destruction could be translated “disaster” in 1 Thess. 5.3, and New American Bible translates it “ruin” here. Eternal is often used in the New Testament in speaking of the age to come or the last days. “Eternal life” is not simply life which goes on forever, but life of a quality associated with the age to come. Eternal destruction is the opposite of this. In 1 Thess. 4.17 Paul describes the life of the age to come by saying simply “we will always be with the Lord.” Conversely, eternal destruction is to be separated from the presence of the Lord. The persecutors will be punished in such a way that “all that makes life worth living is destroyed” (H. A. A. Kennedy, quoted by Best, p. 262).
Eternal destruction must be rendered in some languages as a verb phrase, for example, “he will destroy them forever.” This expression may be related to what precedes as “they will be punished; God will destroy them forever,” or “God will cause them to suffer; he will punish them by destroying them forever.” Note, however, that this eternal destruction is further defined by the phrase which follows, namely, separated from the presence of the Lord.
Separated from represents a common Greek preposition which has a wide range of meanings. King James VersionMoffattZürcher Bibel translate it rather vaguely as “from.” Knox thinks that it is God’s presence which causes the destruction and translates “the presence of the Lord, and the majesty of his power, will condemn them to eternal punishment,” but he adds a note giving another interpretation. It is more natural to understand the word “from” as referring (metaphorically) to space, and this is the meaning in Isaiah 2.10, 19, 21, of which this verse is a quotation. Most translations understand in this way: separated (cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), Jerusalem Bible “excluded” (cf. Phillips), New English Bible “cut off,” BarclayTranslator’s New Testament “banishment” (cf. Bijbel in Gewone Taal), “far from” (cf. Bible en français courantBiblia Dios Habla HoyLuther 1984Bible de JérusalemLa Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond réviséeLe Nouveau Testament. Version SynodaleZürcher Bibel).
The phrase separated from the presence of the Lord serves to further define the meaning of eternal destruction. One may therefore introduce this expression as “this means they will be separated from the presence of the Lord.” In some languages, however, it is extremely difficult to use a passive expression such as separated without indicating precisely who does the separating and the mode of the separation. One must say in some instances “God will close them off from where the Lord will be.” In many instances, of course, the Lord must be rendered as “our Lord.”
The presence of the Lord is a non-figurative equivalent of the Greek “the face of the Lord,” which is not very natural in current English. The Lord, as usual in Paul’s writings, means Jesus (cf. v. 8), though in the passage in Isaiah which Paul is quoting, the Lord naturally refers to God. His glorious might is literally “the glory of his might,” and could also mean “the glory which comes from” or “is caused by his might.” On “glory,” see 1 Thess. 2.12; cf. 2.6, 20. In some translations his glorious might has been rendered merely as “his wonderful strength.” But this is often not satisfactory. How can one be separated from someone’s strength? It is possible in some instances to reverse the attribution and to speak, not of “glorious might,” but “great wonderfulness”; that is to say “God will shut them away from the great wonderfulness of our Lord.” In some cases this may be best indicated by “and they will never see how very wonderful he is,” or “… never experience his great wonderfulness.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
In this verse Paul described how those in 1:8 will be punished.
1:9a
the penalty of eternal destruction: As most commentators agree, this does not mean that those in 1:8 will be completely destroyed and cease to exist. It means that the act of destroying will never end.
1:9b
separated from the presence of the Lord: The word separated is not in the Greek. The Berean Standard Bible has added this word to make the meaning clearer in English. However, the fact that there is no verb in Greek indicates that Paul was not speaking of two separate punishments, destruction and separation, but that this part of the verse describes more specifically the everlasting destruction of 1:9a.
the Lord: This probably refers to Jesus here.
the glory of His might: The Greek says: “the glory of his strength.” This probably means “the majesty/glory that is shown by his power.”
glory: In this context, the Greek word used here contains the meanings “greatness,” “honor,” and “great light.”
His might: The phrase His might refers to Christ’s power.
1:10a
on the day He comes: That is, the day when the Lord Jesus will return to earth. Those who do not know God will be punished on that day.
to be glorified in His saints: This phrase indicates one purpose for the Lord Jesus’ return.
to be glorified: This means that people will honor/praise the Lord Jesus. As this is a passive verb, there is no subject given. If you can use a passive verb, you should do so. Otherwise you could make “His saints” the subject of the verb, as in the second Meaning Line in the Display.
in His saints: Scholars do not agree about how this phrase is connected to the phrase “to be glorified” and therefore what the Greek word en (in) means here. The literal translation of the Berean Standard Bible is ambiguous. There are three possibilities:
(1) It gives the reason why Jesus will be glorified, that is, he will be glorified because of what he has done for believers (for example, saving them). Most commentators support this option.
(New Century Version, SSA)
(2) It gives the agent of the action, that is, he will be glorified by his people.
(Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
(3) It gives a location, that is, Jesus will be glorified among his people. (Revised English Bible, God’s Word, New Jerusalem Bible)
It is recommended that you follow the first option (1), which has the best support in the commentaries.
His saints: The phrase His saints is translated from the Greek word hagioi, which literally means “holy ones.” It often is translated “saints” but it is important to recognize that in the New Testament, this refers to all believers in Christ, not just to people who are very good. One way to translate it is “those who belong to God.”
1:10b
and regarded with wonder by all who have believed: This part of the verse is parallel to 1:10a. Obviously, all who have believed refers to the same people as “his saints” in 1:10a. It is less clear whether the verb thaumazō, which the Berean Standard Bible translates regarded with wonder, should be considered to mean the same as “glorify” in 1:10a. The two verbs in Greek are quite distinct, so it is better to follow the majority of English versions and use two verbs.
regarded with wonder: That is, “to be wondered at, to cause people to be amazed.” Once more the verb is passive, so no subject has been supplied. If you need to use an active verb in your language, you should use the same subject as you did in 1:10a.
1:10c
including you: Although the Greek text does not say this, it is helpful for showing how 1:10b and the rest of 1:10c connect together. Paul’s message was believed by many people in Thessalonica, and so they will be among Jesus’ “saints” and “those who have believed.”
our testimony: Paul used the Greek word marturion here, which the Berean Standard Bible translates as testimony to make it clear that Paul and his companions preached about what they had actually seen God do.
Paragraph 1:11–12
Paul concluded this chapter by praying for the Thessalonian believers. He prayed that when the Lord Jesus returned he would find them worthy to enter his kingdom and that, in the meantime, God would enable them to behave in a righteous way.
1:11a
To this end: Most commentators and English versions agree that the word this in this phrase refers backward to some previous verses, but they do not agree about which precise verses are being referred to. There are three main possibilities:
(1) It refers to 1:10b–c.
(2) It refers to 1:5–10.
(3) It refers to 1:5.
If you need to be specific in your translation, it is recommended that you follow the first option (1). The second meaning line in the Display shows one way to do this.
1:11b
our God: See the note on 1 Thessalonians 2:2c.
will count you worthy: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as count…worthy here is the verb axioō. It is related to the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as worthy in 1:5b. Here the scholars do not agree about how the verb should be translated. There are two possibilities:
(1) It means “regard/consider as worthy” The word then has the same meaning as the related word kataxioō in 1:5b. This is the view of the majority of the commentators.
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), King James Version, Revised English Bible, New American Standard Bible, SSA)
(2) It means “make worthy.”
(Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), God’s Word)
It is recommended that you follow the first meaning (1), which has wide support in the commentaries.
of His calling: God has called the Thessalonian believers to be “his holy people,” “those who belong to him.” He has also called them to behave morally so that he will be pleased to call them his people.
1:11c
your every good desire: Most commentators and English versions agree that this means “every good thing you want/desire to do.”
1:11d
work of faith: That is, “everything you do because you believe in Jesus.” This is parallel to 1:11c. If it is more natural in your language, you could combine 1:11c and 1:11d as follows:
We also always pray to God for you that he will powerfully enable you to do the good deeds that you want to do because you believe/trust in the Lord Jesus.
1:12a
so that: There are two ways to connect this to 1:11:
(1) It is the purpose of Paul’s prayer. So Paul was saying “we pray all this so that…” This is the view of almost every commentary.
(New International Version (2011 Revision), Revised Standard Version, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, SSA)
(2) It is the expected result of Paul’s prayer. So Paul was saying: “We pray all this. Then, [when the prayer is answered]….”
(This seems to be the view of the Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
It is recommended that you follow the first option, as scholars agree that the word hopōs usually indicates purpose.
the name of our Lord Jesus: In the Bible, when someone refers to the name of a person, they usually mean his reputation, character, and habits. By extending this definition, then, the name can mean the person himself. So if it is not possible in your language to use the expression “the name of,” you could just say “so that our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.”
will be glorified in you: This part of the verse has the same meaning as it had in 1:10a, that is, that the name of Jesus will be glorified because of what he has done for the Thessalonian believers. See the note on 1:10a. Paul did not specify who would glorify Jesus, but he probably meant people in general.
1:12b
and you in Him: There are two main ways to understand this part of the verse and how it compares with 1:12a.
(1) The relationship indicated by “in” has a different meaning here than in 1:12a. This part of the verse then means that the Thessalonians will be praised by Jesus.
(2) This is the reverse of 1:12a. So it means that people will praise the Thessalonians because of Jesus, just as they will praise Jesus.
It is recommended that you follow the first option (1).
1:12c
according to the grace: Paul knew that God would answer his prayer according to grace, that is, he would act in a way that showed that he is merciful to the people who follow him.
grace: See the note on 1:2.
of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: Most commentators and versions agree that the text refers to God and the Lord Jesus Christ as two separate persons here.
our God: See the note on 1 Thessalonians 2:2c.
Paragraph 2:1–4
Some of the Christians at Thessalonica were upset because they thought that Paul had said that the Lord Jesus had already returned. Here Paul sought to correct this misunderstanding. He reminded them that before the Lord Jesus returns, many people will reject God. Then a wicked leader called “the man of lawlessness” will appear.
2:1a
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: This refers to the Lord Jesus Christ’s return, not his birth in Bethlehem.
2:1b
our being gathered together to Him: Literally, “our gathering to him.” Many English versions translate the Greek noun episunagōgē, “gathering, assembly,” using a passive form, as the Berean Standard Bible has done. Paul did not make clear who will gather the believers, but as the note on 1 Thessalonians 4:17a says, Paul probably meant that God would gather the believers together, both those who were still alive and those who had already died. Then he would bring them to meet the Lord Jesus in the air as he returned. So if you need to use an active verb, you should use God as the subject.
to Him: That is, “to meet him [Jesus].”
2:1c
we ask you: In the Greek text, this part of the verse actually occurs at the beginning of 2:1. The Berean Standard Bible and most other English versions have placed this expression at the end of the verse to make it clear that this phrase is directly connected with 2:2, that is, that 2:2 contains what Paul was asking the Thessalonians.
brothers: See the note on 1 Thessalonians 1:4. If such an expression only occurs in your language at the beginning of a sentence, you may need to place this at the beginning of the verse.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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