Paul introduces here, at the end of the first section, a theme which he will discuss in greater detail in 4.13–5.11, and which will be one of the two main subjects of his Second Letter to the Thessalonians. Paul is always anxious that the Thessalonian Christian should maintain a balance between the present and future dimensions of Christian experience. The link between the two is Jesus, whose name here (as in Hebrews 12.2) is in an emphatic position at the climax of a long sentence. Good News Translation reproduces the emphasis by repeating his Son (cf. Bible en français courant).

Son is one of the most important titles of Jesus in the New Testament. It expresses his uniquely close but dependent relationship with God, whom he was probably the first to address in prayer as “Abba.” Like most, if not all, human language about God and most titles of Christ, it involves a figurative extension of the central meaning of the word “son.” Because of its theological importance, the metaphor should, if possible, be maintained in translation. And since the concept of sonship is common to all cultures, it usually can be retained. However, connotations of youth and physical generation should be avoided.

In rendering to come from heaven, it is important to use a word which clearly indicates “the abode of God” rather than merely “sky.” In this context an appropriate equivalent in some languages is “to come from where God is.”

From death is literally “from the dead.” In Greek, as in English, raised is a common word used here with an uncommon meaning. In some languages, this meaning is normally translated by a different and more literary word. Bible en français courant maintains a common language level by translating “whom he has brought back from death to life” (cf. Barclay). It is important to be specific and clear in rendering whom he raised from death. It is “God” who “raised Jesus from death,” but only rarely can one render the phrase “raised from death” literally. An expression such as “caused to live again” may be necessary.

Rescues is a synonym of “saves,” but one which places greater emphasis on the negative aspect of liberation from some danger. There is no contradiction between the present rescues and the future reference of that is coming. In Greek rescues is a present participle which implies a process having duration, something which has begun but is still incomplete. In many languages rescues is best translated as “causes us to escape,” “releases us from,” or “causes us not to suffer because of.”

For the first time in this letter, us includes both senders and readers, as the context shows (see comments on v. 4).

It is important to note that it is his Son Jesus who is raised from death (that is, he is the object of God’s activity), but it is this same one who rescues us from God’s anger. The shift in agent must be clearly indicated in the receptor language.

God’s anger that is coming rightly expands a Greek phrase which literally means “the anger (or wrath) which is coming.” Jews reading Hebrew aloud refrained from pronouncing the name of God, and although Paul is writing Greek, he seems to be influenced here by Jewish usage. The use of the article “the” shows that Paul assumes his readers know to whose anger he is referring.

The problem in translating anger is that of expressing the idea of God’s permanent, total, and personal opposition to evil, without suggesting an outburst of bad temper. It is a particularly acute example of the difficulty of using human language about God (technically called “anthropomorphism”). The Greek word which Good News Translation translates anger is a common word, and it is also used to refer to human anger (for example in Ephesians 4.31). It corresponds to the even more “human” Old Testament metaphor of someone’s nose being inflamed against someone else an expression which is used freely in speaking both of God (Exodus 4.14) and of men (Genesis 30.2). The addition of that is coming shows that Paul is thinking of a final manifestation of God’s opposition to evil which is very close to the meaning of “judgment,” the term used here by New English Bible Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Phillips. Other, less satisfactory, translations are “vengeance” (Knox) and “punishment” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). The Greek word for anger does not in isolation have a future reference, but New English Bible interestingly takes the whole phrase closely together and translates “the terrors of judgment to come.”

It is difficult in some languages to find adequate terms to translate the expression God’s anger. The focus of meaning in this context is judgment, but it would be wrong simply to translate “rescues us from God’s judgment that is coming,” even though the Greek term does imply a measure of God’s opposition to sin and his anger because of it. In some languages the best equivalent seems to be “angry judgment.” Some persons would prefer a translation such as “who rescues us from God’s stern judgment.” Some recasting of this last clause may result in “who rescues us from the judgment that is going to come because God is so angry because of men’s sins,” or “… because God is so angrily opposed to men’s sins.” Yet there are other languages in which it is impossible to speak about a “judgment that is going to come,” because “judgment” is not thought of as something that can “come.” One can, however, speak about “judgment which is going to take place,” or “a will-be judging.” This fact may require a recasting of the last clause to read “who will rescue us when God is about to judge people, for he is angry because of their sins.”

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 .

Paul’s second prayer, like the third in verse 13, is not for himself but for the Thessalonians. The transition is marked by an emphatic “you,” almost “As for you, may the Lord…” (see general notes on 3.11-13). The first prayer was addressed jointly to God the Father and to Jesus; the second and third are addressed to the Lord, that is, to Jesus (see notes on 1.6) alone. A few manuscripts add “Jesus” after the Lord. This is not part of the original text, but it gives the correct meaning. God and Christ are so closely linked in this passage (see notes on v. 11) that the change of “addressee” should not be emphasized.

Make … grow more and more and make … become … great translate two Greek verbs. The first means usually “to become more, to increase,” and in this sentence “to cause to increase, to make greater.” The second is stronger; it means usually “to be more than enough, to be plentiful,” and in this sentence “to make extremely rich.” Good News Translation‘s make … become as great as our love for you is the more likely meaning of a comparison which is slightly ambiguous in the original. It could mean either (1) “may the Lord increase your love … until it is as great as our love (already) is for you,” or (2) “may the Lord increase (equally) your love … and also our love for you” (literally “as we to you”). Good News Translation chooses the first alternative. As in 1.6 (cf. 2 Thess. 3.7-9), Paul is offering his experience and that of his companions as an example to younger Christians. The theme of growth recalls 3.10 and will be taken up again in 4.1.

The expression make your love … grow is a causative, in which grow refers to an increase of love, which is the central concept. One may need to change the relations in such a way as to say “I pray that the Lord may cause you to love one another and all people more and more.”

Your love for one another and for all people. The word translated love is central to the vocabulary and experience of the first Christians (cf. 1.3; 1 Corinthians 13, and many other passages), and has a distinctively Christian meaning. However, one aspect of its distinctiveness was precisely the fact that this love was not limited in its objects to other Christians; it extended to people outside the church, and even, as probably in this verse, to enemies. This aspect distinguished it from the specific “brother-love,” that is, love for other members of the Christian family, which Paul mentions in 4.9.

In is often difficult to find a satisfactory word for love, especially if it must include, not only persons of the “in-group,” but also outsiders and even opponents. Frequently the term for Christian love is derived from an expression related primarily to affection within the family, but such a term may be so closely associated with in-group affection as to be unusable in a context such as this. In some languages an equivalent for Christian love may be “deep concern for.” On the other hand, it is unwise to use one term for affection among Christians and another to indicate the attitude of Christians toward those outside the Christian community. It is also important to avoid terms which suggest mere sentimentality. What has actually happened in many receptor languages is that in the beginning a relatively inadequate term has been adopted, but it has grown in significance as the members of the Christian community have expressed their concern for one another and for others in new and dynamic ways. What began as an inadequate expression of Christian love becomes filled with meaning. That is essentially what happened in the case of the Greek terms which the Christians adopted to express their special love for one another and for God, as well as for God’s love for them. As the term was used in the Christian community, the meaning of its content expanded.

It is difficult in some languages to talk about one kind of love being as great as another. This is particularly true if love must be translated as a verb. One may, however, be able to say “I pray that God will cause you to love one another and all people more, so that you will love others as much as we love you,” or “… so that you will love others equally as we love you.”

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 .

This verse begins in Greek with “and,” but this conjunction is better omitted, not only because of the preference in many languages for shorter sentences, but because “and” tends to lead the reader to expect something new, distinct from what has gone before. In fact, verse 13a largely repeats verse 12. Work is a common word, unrelated to work in verse 12, and without the suggestion of effort of hard labor. Paul is clearly thinking here, not of the work these individuals do in order to earn their living, but of their function as leaders in the church.

Treat them with the greatest respect may be translated as “honor them very much,” or “show them how important you think they are.”

Treat them with … love can be rendered in some languages only as “love them,” but in certain instances a translation such as “show great appreciation for them” may be closer to the meaning of this context.

Because of the work they do may be best expressed in some cases as “because of all the ways in which they help you,” or “because of all that they do,” thus avoiding any specific reference to work which might imply physical labor.

Bible de Jérusalem (1st ed.) Jerusalem Bible Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Moffatt Phillips Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch all begin a new paragraph at be at peace among yourselves, and one or two translations try to make explicit a connection with what follows. Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale suggests a contrastive relation: “Be at peace among yourselves. However, we beg you, brothers, warn….” Phillips, on the other hand, thinks of a relation of means and purpose: “Live together in peace, and our instruction to this end is to reprimand….” If be at peace among yourselves is placed at the end of the preceding paragraph, it will refer to good relations between the church leaders and the rest of the Christian community. If this admonition is placed at the beginning of a new paragraph, it will refer to tensions among the members (cf. v. 15a). Formally, however, verse 14, with its we urge you, the transitional “and” or “but,” and brothers, appears to begin a new paragraph. If 13b is placed, as in most translations (including Bible de Jérusalem 2nd ed.), at the end of the preceding paragraph, if forms a good bridge between verses 12-13 and 14-15. The underlying thought, somewhat expanded, is most probably “you should maintain good relations with your leaders, but also with one another generally; and we must therefore go on to urge you to warn the idle” etc. Peace in Hebrew and Jewish-Christian thought was more than the absence of conflict. Nevertheless, Barclay‘s rendering of verse 13b should be noted as an example of “overtranslation”: “Nothing must ever be allowed to interrupt your personal relationships with each other.”

Be at peace implies a state, not a specific act of peace-making or reconciliation; “live at peace” (New English Bible cf. Bijbel in Gewone Taal Bible en français courant Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) expresses this clearly. A positive quality such as peace can best be expressed in some languages as the negation of a bad quality or condition, for example, “live together without quarreling,” or “live together without feeling against one another.”

This is the first of a long series of imperatives in verses 13-22 which suggest continuous or repeated action over a period. This effect is strengthened by the use of such words as at all times (vv. 15, 17) and always (v. 16).

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 .

All editions of the Greek New Testament do not mark the division between verses 11 and 12 at the same point in the text. Some editions, followed by some versions (e.g. King James Version Revised Version Revised Standard Version New English Bible), include We encouraged you, we comforted you in verse 11. Good News Translation, here as elsewhere, follows the verse division of the UBS Greek New Testament.

Again, Paul appeals to what the Thessalonians themselves know. In verse 9 he has said that he did not want to be a burden to “any one” of them. Here, he reinforces this personal reference by the emphatic each one of you (New English Bible has “we dealt with you one by one”; Bijbel in Gewone Taal “each [one] personally”). Paul has already called his readers “brothers” and compared himself and his companions to a nursing mother (v. 7). Now he compares the Christian family relationship with the relationship between a father and his children. In verse 7 Paul was thinking of the intimacy of a shared life; here he chooses the relationship between a father and his children, because the teaching and preaching function of the evangelists is in focus. This sentence has no main verb in Greek. We treated is supplied by Good News Translation Translator’s New Testament (New English Bible “we dealt with”). In some languages it may be difficult to supply an appropriate corresponding expression. One may, in some cases, employ a phrase such as “you know that our relation to each one of was….” In other instances it may be necessary to use a more specific expression, for example, “you know that we helped each one of you just as a father helps his own children.”

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 .

The Thessalonians have put their love into practice, not only in their own city, but throughout the surrounding province of Macedonia (cf. 1.8). The Greek means “you are also doing it,” but in English, where the expression “doing brotherly love” is awkward, behaved like this is a good common language equivalent (cf. Bible en français courant). Bijbel in Gewone Taal has “you also put love into practice towards….” (cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This is better than “you do this with the brothers…” (cf. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Jerusalem Bible). The love of the Thessalonians for Christians in other parts of Macedonia no doubt met with a response, but Paul does not say so here: his concern is with what his readers have been doing.

Because it may be difficult to use a general expression such as behaved like this, one may prefer to use a more specific reference to love of the brethren, for example, “loved all the brothers in all of Macedonia,” or “… all fellow believers….”

The UBS Greek text includes in square brackets a definite article between brothers and in all of Macedonia. If it is included, the meaning would be, as in Good News Translation, the brothers in all of Macedonia. If it is omitted (and the textual evidence seems in favor of leaving it out) the most likely meaning would be “you are behaving like this all over Macedonia, to all the brothers.” There is a difference in grammatical form, but the meaning is essentially the same.

The second part of the verse repeats almost verbally expressions used in verse 1. The transitional, translated so, may indicate a contrast, and Phillips and New English Bible accordingly translate “yet” (Barclay cf. Luther 1984 La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Bible de Jérusalem Bible en français courant have “but”). The contrast is of limited scope, between the love the Thessalonians are showing and the still greater love Paul recommends, and it should not be overemphasized in translation, as Jerusalem Bible‘s “however” tends to do. So is perhaps slightly ambiguous. On a hasty reading, it could be misunderstood as introducing a conclusion or summing up what has been already said; but when the passage is read as a whole, it is clear that Paul’s thought is looking forward to the specific advice he has to give in verse 11.

To do even more could be misunderstood if translated literally, even as the same phrase occurring in 4.1 can be misconstrued. Paul does not mean that the Christians in Thessalonica should love more people, since he has already indicated the extent of their love. Evidently it is the quality of their lives (as reflected in verse 11) which is here in focus. Therefore “to do even better” may be a more satisfactory equivalent.

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 .

The first separate reference to Timothy is followed by an accumulation of titles which serve both to describe and recommend him. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch lightens the construction by including these titles in a separate sentence beginning “he is God’s co-worker.”

The best Greek text, followed by a majority of modern translations (including Phillips New American Bible New English Bible Zürcher Bibel Jerusalem Bible La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Bible de Jérusalem Bible en français courant Traduction œcuménique de la Bible Bijbel in Gewone Taal), describes Timothy as, literally, “our brother and co-worker of God in the gospel of Christ.” Many copyists seemingly were shocked that Paul should call Timothy “God’s co-worker,” though a similar idea is expressed in 1 Corinthians 6.1. Some manuscripts (followed by Moffatt Revised Standard Version Knox Luther 1984 Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Jerusalem Bible Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) replace “co-worker” by “servant.” Others omit “God” or place “of God” after “gospel.”

Good News Translation adopts the reading “co-worker” but links it with “our” rather than with “of God,” making it necessary to understand “of God” as “for God” “our brother who works with us for God” (cf. Translator’s New Testament Bible en français courant). It seems on the whole better to keep the two phrases “our brother” and “God’s co-worker” distinct in translation. Timothy, like any Christian, is Paul’s brother, but he also has the more specific calling to work with God in preaching the Good News about Christ. Preaching is implied; see the notes on 2.16.

Paul has used the expression “Good News of God” in 2.2, 8, 9, always with the meaning “Good News from God,” “Good News of which God is the author,” or “Good News sent by God.” Here it would be possible to understand “Good News of Christ” in the same way, but Good News Translation‘s Good News about Christ fits the context better.

If one combines the concept of “co-worker” with Timothy’s colleagues Paul and Silas, it may be necessary to make clear the relation involved in the phrase for God. This is done in some languages as “who works with us in serving God.” On the other hand, if one combines “co-worker” directly with “God,” one must translate “he works with God” or “he works together with God,” something which must be expressed in some languages as “he and God work together.” But this may be awkward, since it may shift the focus of attention from Timothy as a collaborator to joint operations conducted by Timothy and God. Under such circumstances it may be better to adopt the construction employed in Good News Translation.

We sent him to strengthen you, in Greek as in Good News Translation, is slightly ambiguous. Does Paul mean (1) “we sent him so that he might strengthen you,” or (2) “we sent him so that (through him) we might strengthen you?” Those translations which specify (including Zürcher Bibel Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Bijbel in Gewone Taal) choose the first alternative, which is simpler and more probable, though the difference in meaning is minimal. In translating to strengthen, it is important to avoid the implication that Timothy was to make the Thessalonians physically strong or to increase their health. The strengthening obviously refers to their faith and confidence as Christian believers. It may even be useful to combine this meaning with the phrase help your faith, for example, “to cause your faith to become strong.”

Help translates a verb whose literal meaning is that of calling someone to one’s side, but the literal meaning clearly does not fit the present context. Extensions of this meaning include two which are relevant here, and which partly overlap: (1) “appeal to, urge, exhort,” in which the act of speaking is dominant, and (2) “encourage, cheer up,” which emphasize the strengthening effect of what is said, rather than the act itself. The close link with strengthen (cf. 2 Thess. 2.17) makes the second meaning much more likely. Most translations have “encourage” or something similar. Good News Translation‘s help is a more common equivalent, and King James Version‘s “comfort” is no longer used in this sense.

Help your faith is more literally “encourage you concerning your faith,” or possibly “on behalf of your faith,” though the latter meaning is awkward and unlikely. Two questions arise: (1) What is the relation between “encourage” and “your faith”? and (2) What is the relation between this entire phrase and the preceding strengthen Translator’s New Testament makes both relations explicit by translating “encourage you to stand fast in your faith” (New English Bible “… to stand firm to the faith,” cf. Barclay). It is clear that the Thessalonians’ faith is affected inseparably by the strengthening and by the encouragement which Timothy brings. This is one of the few passages in which Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch uses the noun “faith.” It usually prefers to translate the “event” of faith by a verb, “to trust” or “to believe.”

In those languages which normally employ a verb to translate faith, one may render to strengthen you and help your faith as “to cause you to believe more firmly,” or “to cause you to have more confidence in your trusting in Christ.”

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 .

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 .

The vocative brothers (cf. v. 17; 4.1, 13; 5.12, 14; 2 Thessalonians 3.1, 13) tends to mark the beginning of a new section, or at least, as in 1.4, the introduction of an important new idea. Here the beginning of a new section is indicated also by a change of grammatical subject, marked by the emphatic yourselves. On the other hand, this new section is carefully linked with what precedes. Paul does this by repeating the rather unusual word visit (cf. 1.9), and by using a link word translated “for” in King James Version Revised Standard Version (cf. Luther 1984 Zürcher Bibel Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) but omitted in Good News Translation. This word usually has the function of linking one clause with the immediately preceding one, but a glance at 1.10 shows that this is not the case here. Paul’s thought has jumped back to the beginning of the previous long sentence. He is saying, in effect, “Not only do other people talk about the results of our visit, but you yourselves know that it was not a failure.” Because the conjunction is used in such a loose and unemphatic manner, and because the connection with chapter 1 is established in other ways, most modern translations (including New English Bible Phillips Jerusalem Bible Barclay La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Bijbel in Gewone Taal Translator’s New Testament) omit it.

The word translated a failure literally means “empty.” It is often used in speaking of work which is either futile and useless in itself (1 Corinthians 15.58, where Good News Translation; Luke 20.10 f.), or produces no result (1 Corinthians 15.10, Good News Translation “without effect”). New English Bible and Best take the present text in the last of these senses and translate “fruitless” (cf. New American Bible “without effect”). A similar expression is used in 3.5 (Good News Translation “for nothing”) and Philippians 2.16 (Good News Translation “wasted”), also in contexts which speak of work. It is therefore no coincidence that the word is used here at the beginning of a section which presumably mentions not only Paul’s tent-making activities (v. 9), but also the labor and effort of his whole evangelistic work (vv. 2, 8).

Was (preceding not a failure) is in the perfect tense in Greek, indicating an event which continues, or whose effects continue, into the present. It is not always necessary or even desirable to bring this out in translation, but Jerusalem Bible (cf. Best) does so here: “our visit to you has not proved ineffectual.”

For the translator, probably the most serious difficulty involved in this verse is the double negative which tends to occur in rendering was not a failure. More often than not, failure must be expressed by a negative, namely, “not to succeed,” “not to produce results,” “not to be effective.” When this is preceded by another negative, the resulting expression is usually awkward and may be quite incomprehensible to the average reader. The closest equivalent, therefore, in some languages is simply “our coming to you was successful” or “our coming to you accomplished its purpose.” Note that (as also in v. 9) visit should not be translated in terms of a friendly get-together.

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 .