The word translated when usually, but not always, means “whenever”; but “whenever” clearly will not do here, since the Day of the Lord does not come every time people talk of peace and security (virtually two synonyms). But the idea of repeated action need not be excluded in translation, and various English versions may suggest this by the use of the so-called progressive form. Barclay has “when people are talking of how peaceful and secure life is”; Knox “It is just when men are saying, All quiet, all safe, that…”; Phillips “When men are saying ‘peace and security’ ”; Translator’s New Testament “Just when people are saying how peaceful and secure everything is…”; cf. Moffatt “when ‘all’s well’ and ‘all is safe’, are on the lips of men”; cf. Jeremiah 6.14; Ezekiel 13.10; Matthew 24.37-39. But the emphasis here is not on the repeated action of thinking that all is well, but on the factor of indefinite time.
Some languages need to make it clear that say refers to a future activity, that is, “when people will be saying.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates: “when people begin to say.”
People translate an impersonal “they say,” but the latter part of the verse suggests that Paul is thinking specially of non-Christians, and he states this more explicitly in verse 4 by the emphatic but you, and in verse 6 by the others.
In some languages it is necessary to make quiet and safe more clearly related to those who talk about such a condition, for example, “when people will say, No one is rioting and we are safe,” or “… Everyone is peaceful, and we need not have any fear.”
Destruction translates a word which in the New Testament (1) always refers to destruction by some supernatural power, and (2) never implies complete annihilation. The meaning is close to “punishment” or even “God’s judgment.” Those who refuse to believe are punished, but (or therefore) do not cease to exist. It is difficult to combine both these elements in translation, and the impersonal use of destruction (avoiding the direct statement “God will destroy them”) makes things even more difficult. Moffatt‘s “Destruction” (with a capital D) shows that he was conscious of the problem, but using a capital letter does not solve it. Jerusalem Bible has “the worst suddenly happens,” and some French translations have “ruin,” both of which avoid the suggestion of annihilation.
In some languages one cannot say “destruction will hit them,” because destruction is itself an event. One can be hit by objects but not by an event such as destruction. The closest equivalent may be “then suddenly they will suffer terribly,” or “they will be in great trouble.”
The latter part of the verse introduces successively a new comparison and a new idea: the pains that come upon a woman in labor. Good News Translation (cf. Phillips) brings out clearly a reference to the final stages of pregnancy which is required by the context. A woman who is about to give birth is in Greek simply “a pregnant woman.” The major point of the comparison is the suddenness both of the birth pangs and of the Day of the Lord. Good News Translation emphasizes this by suddenly at the beginning of the clause (then suddenly), as the Greek, and also by repeating it in the next sentence (as suddenly as), where it is not found in the Greek. A slight overemphasis of this element is perhaps needed, since Paul probably returns in verse 4 (see the notes on that verse) to the unexpectedness of the Day of the Lord. In people will not escape, the word not is emphasized. One may also translate “then destruction will hit them as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman who is about to give birth, and they will not escape.”
It is always possible to talk about “escaping” from prison or from confinement, but it may be difficult to speak of “escaping” from destruction. If in the previous clause destruction will hit them is rendered something like “suddenly they will suffer terribly,” then people will not escape may be rendered as “people will most certainly suffer,” or “it is not possible that people will not suffer.”
Since Paul is not referring to the intensity of pain in childbirth but to the fact that such pain is unexpected, it may be possible to translate “the suffering will surely come, and when one is not expecting it, just like the suffering that comes to a woman who is about to give birth.”
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 .