Here and in most the letter, Paul is thinking of Silas and Timothy as joint senders of the message. We, therefore, is not merely the so-called “epistolary we,” which Paul sometimes uses and which is really the equivalent of “I.”

The last word in the Greek text of verse 2 is translated always in Good News Translation. The oldest Greek manuscripts had neither punctuation nor verse numbers. This second “always” may therefore be taken with what precedes (as in Good News Translation Revised Standard Version New English Bible Bible en français courant Luther 1984 Bible de Jérusalem) or with what follows (as in King James Version New American Bible Translator’s New Testament Bible de Jérusalem [1st ed.] La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In other words, Paul may be saying that he and friends “continually mention” the Thessalonians in their prayers, or that they “continually remember” them. If the first alternative is chosen, it confirms the impression that verse 2b repeats the message of verse 2a.

The two words translated always are not to be understood in an absolute sense, as if Paul meant that he and his companions prayed without a moment’s interruption. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “Every time we pray, we think of you” (cf. Bijbel in Gewone Taal “We thank God always, when we think of you in our prayers”), but there is the strong implication that their prayers were frequent.

A literal translation of We always thank God for you all may be understood in some languages to imply that Paul and his companions were especially thanking God because he had given the Thessalonians to them. In a sense this may be true, but a more natural equivalent in some languages is “We are always telling God how thankful we are for you all,” or “We constantly tell God how thankful we are that you remain Christians.” In rendering always mention you in our prayers, one may translate as “whenever we pray to God, we pray to him for you.” More is implied here than merely mentioning the Christians in Thessalonica.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .