5For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith; I was afraid that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor had been in vain.
“In the Lak language of Dagestan, the names “Iblis” and “sheytan” (referring to Satan and his minions, respectively) were borrowed from the Arabic Islamic tradition, but they entered Lak as feminine nouns, not masculine nouns. This means that they grammatically function like nouns referring to females in Lak; in other words, Laks are likely to think of Iblis as a woman, not a man, because of the obligatory grammatical patterning of Lak noun classes. Thus, when the team explained (in Russian) what the Lak translation of Jesus’ wilderness temptation narrative at the beginning of Matthew 4 said, it sounded something like the following: ‘After this, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Iblis… .The temptress came to Jesus, and she said to Him…’
“Since this information (that the devil is a female spirit) is part of the very name used for Satan in Lak, nothing can really be done about this in the translation. The Lak translator did not think that the feminine gender of Iblis should cause any serious misunderstandings among readers, so we agreed to leave it in the translation. This puts an interesting spin on things. The devil is of course a spirit, neither male nor female in a biologically-meaningful sense. But Bible translators are by nature very risk-aversive and, where possible, want to avoid any translation that might feed misleading information to readers. So what can a translator do about this? In many cases, such as the present one, one has to just accept the existing language structure and go on.” (Source: Vitaly Voinov)
The Greek and Ge’ez that is typically translated as “tempt” or “temptation” in English is translated in Noongar as djona-karra or “reveal conduct” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang) and in Tibetan as nyams sad (ཉམས་སད།), lit. “soul + test,” or in some cases as slu (སླུ།) or “lure / lead astray” (for instance in 1 Cor. 7:5 or Gal 6:1) (source: gSungrab website )
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
In Fijian, the paucal exclusive forms neitou and keitou (“of me and a few [two or slight more]”) are used instead. This choice is understandable in view of the introduction found in both letters to the Thessalonians, where the writer Paul indicates clearly that the letters were co-authored by two other colleagues, Silas and Timothy, hence the use of a pronoun referring to three people (“Paul, Silas and Timothy”).
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Thessalonians 3:5:
Uma: “So, that is why I ordered Timotius to go, so I would know how your faith is, because I really could no longer endure my longing. And I was anxious, lest the King of Tempters had tempted you to the point that you had fall and there no longer be a purpose to our effort [lit., tiredness, same as 2:1] carrying the Good News to you.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I am very worried as-to how you are there, therefore because I could no longer endure it, I told/commanded Timoteo to go there and find out from you/clarify if your trust in Isa Almasi is still strong. I was afraid that possibly you were tempted by demons. Because if for example you were taken-in/carried-along by the demon’s temptation, na, there would no longer be use in our (excl.) (previous) work for you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because of this when I could no longer endure my worry about you, I sent Timothy to you so that I might know what had happened to your faith. I was afraid that perhaps Satan has successfully tempted you and the effect of our hard work there among you had come to nothing.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “This is the reason I sent Timoteo there (near addressee) so that I would come-to-know concerning your faith, because I was not able-to-endure our (excl.) waiting for news concerning you and I was worrying lest Satanas had (successfully) tempted you and there would be no result of our (excl.) work there.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That’s why, when I could no longer stand it, I sent Timoteo to go there to you, so that I could be really sure how your believing/obeying is now. Oh dear, I was really worrying for maybe you had been dragged-away by Satanas, the misleader. For supposing it was like that, wouldn’t the outcome be that our (excl.) perseverance there with you was forfeited?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Therefore we could not wait for another day to pass, we sent Timothy in order to know truly how your faith was. I thought perhaps that maybe the devil had won out over you and the work we did was spoiled.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Translations of the Greek and Ge’ez that are typically translated as “faith” in English (itself deriving from Latin “fides,” meaning “trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence”) and “believe” (from Old English belyfan: “to have faith or confidence in a person”) cover a wide range of approaches.
Bratcher and Nida say this (1961, p. 38) (click or tap here to read more):
“Since belief or faith is so essentially an intimate psychological experience, it is not strange that so many terms denoting faith should be highly figurative and represent an almost unlimited range of emotional ‘centers’ and descriptions of relationships, e.g. ‘steadfast his heart’ (Chol), ‘to arrive on the inside’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui), ‘to conform with the heart’ (Uab Meto), ‘to join the word to the body’ (Uduk), ‘to hear in the insides’ (or ‘to hear within one’s self and not let go’ — Nida 1952) (Laka), ‘to make the mind big for something’ (Sapo), ‘to make the heart straight about’ (Mitla Zapotec), ‘to cause a word to enter the insides’ (Lacandon), ‘to leave one’s heart with’ (Baniwa), ‘to catch in the mind’ (Ngäbere), ‘that which one leans on’ (Vai), ‘to be strong on’ (Shipibo-Conibo), ‘to have no doubts’ (San Blas Kuna), ‘to hear and take into the insides’ (Kare), ‘to accept’ (Pamona).”
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap here to read more):
Limos Kalinga: manuttuwa. Wiens (2013) explains: “It goes back to the word for ‘truth’ which is ‘tuttuwa.’ When used as a verb this term is commonly used to mean ‘believe’ as well as ‘obey.'”
Ngiemboon: “turn one’s back on someone” (and trusting one won’t be taken advantage of) (source: Stephen Anderson in Holzhausen 1991, p. 42)
Mwera uses the same word for “hope” and “faith”: ngulupai (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Yala: ɔtū che or “place heart” (in John 5:24; 5:45; 6:35; 6:47; 12:36; 14:1); other translations include chɛ̄ or “to agree/accept” and chɛ̄ku or “to agree with/accept with/take side with” (source: Linus Otronyi)
Matumbi: niu’bi’lyali or “believe / trust / rely (on)” and imani or “religious faith” (from Arabic īmān [إيما]) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Ebira: “place one’s liver on something” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 60)
Barí: a word related to standing in a hammock. Bruce Olson (1972, p. 159f.) tells this story — click or tap here to read more)
One evening, though, Bobby began to ask questions. We were sitting around a fire. The light flickered over him. His face was serious.
‘How can I walk on Jesus’ trail?’ he asked. ‘No Motilone [speakers of Barí] has ever done it. It’s a new thing. There is no other Motilone to tell how to do it.’
I remembered the problems I had had as a boy, how it sometimes appeared impossible to keep on believing in Jesus when my family and friends were so opposed to my commitment. That was what Bobby was going through.
‘Bobby,’ I said, ‘do you remember my first Festival of the Arrows, the first time I had seen all the Motilones gathered to sing their song?’ The festival was the most important ceremony in the Motilone culture.
He nodded. The fire flared up momentarily and I could see his eyes, staring intently at me.
‘Do you remember that I was afraid to climb in the high hammocks to sing, for fear that the rope would break? And I told you that I would sing only if I could have one foot in the hammock and one foot on the ground?’
‘Yes, Bruchko.’
‘And what did you say to me?’
He laughed. ‘I told you you had to have both feet in the hammock. ‘You have to be suspended,’ I said.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You have to be suspended. That is how it is when you follow Jesus, Bobby. No man can tell you how to walk His trail. Only Jesus can. But to find out you have to tie your hammock strings into Him, and be suspended in God.’
Bobby said nothing. The fire danced in his eyes. Then he stood up and walked off into the darkness.
The next day he came to me. ‘Bruchko,’ he said, ‘I want to tie my hammock strings into Jesus Christ. But how can I? I can’t see Him or touch Him.’
‘You have talked to spirits, haven’t you?’
‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see now.’
The next day he had a big grin on his face. ‘Bruchko, I’ve tied my hammock strings into Jesus. Now I speak a new language.’
I didn’t understand what he meant. ‘Have you learned some of the Spanish I speak?’
He laughed, a clean, sweet laugh. ‘No, Bruchko, I speak a new language.’
Then I understood. To a Motilone, language is life. If Bobby had a new life, he had a new way of speaking. His speech would be Christ-oriented.
Awabakal: ngurruliko: “to know, to perceive by the ear” (as distinct from knowing by sight or by touch — source: Lake, p. 70) (click or tap here to read more)
“[The missionary translator] Lancelot Threlkeld learned that Awabakal, like many Australian languages, made no distinction between knowing and believing. Of course the distinction only needs to be made where there are rival systems of knowing. The Awabakal language expressed a seamless world. But as the stress on ‘belief’ itself suggests, Christianity has always existed in pluralist settings. Conversion involves deep conviction, not just intellectual assent or understanding. (…) Translating such texts posed a great challenge in Australia. Threlkeld and [his indigenous colleague] Biraban debated the possibilities at length. In the end they opted not to introduce a new term for belief, but to use the Awabakal ngurruliko, meaning ‘to know, to perceive by the ear,’ as distinct from knowing by sight or by touch.”
Language in southern Nigeria: a word based on the idiom “lose feathers.” Randy Groff in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 65 explains (click or tap here to read more):
What does losing feathers have to do with faith? [The translator] explained that there is a species of bird in his area that, upon hatching its eggs, loses its feathers. During this molting phase, the mother bird is no longer able to fly away from the nest and look for food for her hungry hatchlings. She has to remain in the nest where she and her babies are completely dependent upon the male bird to bring them food. Without the diligent, dependable work of the male bird, the mother and babies would all die. This scenario was the basis for the word for faith in his language.
Teribe: mär: “pick one thing and one thing only” (source: Andy Keener)
Tiv: na jighjigh: “give trust” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Luba-Katanga: Twi tabilo: “echo” (click or tap here to read more)
“Luba-Katanga word for ‘Faith’ in its New Testament connotation is Twi tabilo. This word means ‘echo,’ and the way in which it came to be adapted to the New Testament meaning gives a very good idea of the way in which the translator goes to work. One day a missionary was on a journey through wild and mountainous country. At midday he called his African porters to halt, and as they lay resting in the shade from the merciless heat of the sun. an African picked up a stone and sent it ricocheting down the mountain-side into the ravine below. After some seconds the hollow silence was broken by a plunging, splashing sound from the depths of the dark river-bed. As the echo died away the African said in a wondering whisper ‘Twi tabilo, listen to it.’ So was a precious word captured for the service of the Gospel in its Luba Christian form. Twi tabilo — ‘faith which is the echo of God’s voice in the depths of human sinful hearts, awakened by God Himself, the answer to his own importunate call.’ The faith that is called into being by the divine initiative, God’s own gift to the responsive heart! (Source: Wilfred Bradnock in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 49ff. )
J.A. van Roy (in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. ) discusses how a translation of “faith” in a an earlier translation into Venda created difficult perceptions of the concept of faith (click or tap here):
The Venda term u tenda, lutendo. This term corresponds to the terms ho dumela (Southern Sotho), and ku pfumela (Tsonga) that have been used in these translations of the Bible, and means “to assent,” “to agree to a suggestion.” It is important to understand this term in the context of the character of the people who use it.
The way in which the Venda use this term reveals much about the priority of interpersonal relationships among them. They place a much higher priority on responding in the way they think they are expected to respond than on telling the truth. Smooth interpersonal relationships, especially with a dominant individual or group, take precedence over everything else.
It is therefore regarded as bad form to refuse directly when asked for something one does not in fact intend to give. The correct way is to agree, u tenda, and then forget about it or find some excuse for not keeping to the agreement. Thus u tenda does not necessarily convey the information that one means what one says. One can tenda verbally while heartily disagreeing with the statement made or having no intention whatsoever to carry out what one has just promised to do. This is not regarded as dishonesty, but is a matter of politeness.
The term u sokou tenda, “to consent reluctantly,” is often used for expressing the fatalistic attitude of the Venda in the face of misfortune or force which he is unable to resist.
The form lutendo was introduced by missionaries to express “faith.”
According to the rules of derivations and their meanings in the lu-class, it should mean “the habit of readily consenting to everything.” But since it is a coined word which does not have a clearly defined set of meanings in everyday speech, it has acquired in church language a meaning of “steadfastness in the Christian life.” Una lutendo means something like “he is steadfast in the face of persecution.” It is quite clear that the term u tenda has no element of “trust” in it. (…)
In “The Christian Minister” of July 1969 we find the following statement about faith by Albert N. Martin: “We must never forget that one of the great issues which the Reformers brought into focus was that faith was something more than an ‘assensus,’ a mere nodding of the head to the body of truth presented by the church as ‘the faith.’ The Reformers set forth the biblical concept that faith was ‘fiducia.’ They made plain that saving faith involved trust, commitment, a trust and commitment involving the whole man with the truth which was believed and with the Christ who was the focus of that truth. The time has come when we need to spell this out clearly in categorical statements so that people will realize that a mere nodding of assent to the doctrines that they are exposed to is not the essence of saving faith. They need to be brought to the understanding that saving faith involves the commitment of the whole man to the whole Christ, as Prophet, Priest and King as he is set forth in the gospel.”
We quote at length from this article because what Martin says of the current concept of faith in the Church is even to a greater extent true of the Venda Church, and because the terms used for communicating that concept in the Venda Bible cannot be expected to communicate anything more than “a mere nodding of assent”. I have during many years of evangelistic work hardly ever come across a Venda who, when confronted with the gospel, would not say, Ndi khou tenda, “I admit the truth of what you say.” What they really mean when saying this amounts to, “I believe that God exists, and I have no objection to the fact that he exists. I suppose that the rest of what you are talking about is also true.” They would often add, Ndi sa tendi hani-hani? “Just imagine my not believing such an obvious fact!” To the experienced evangelist this is a clear indication that his message is rejected in so far as it has been understood at all! To get a negative answer, one would have to press on for a promise that the “convert” will attend the baptism class and come to church on Sundays, and even then he will most probably just tenda in order to get rid of the evangelist, whether he intends to come or not. Isn’t that what u tenda means? So when an inexperienced and gullible white man ventures out on an evangelistic campaign with great enthusiasm, and with great rejoicing returns with a list of hundreds of names of persons who “believed”, he should not afterwards blame the Venda when only one tenth of those who were supposed to be converts actually turn up for baptismal instruction.
Moreover, it is not surprising at all that one often comes across church members of many years’ standing who do not have any assurance of their salvation or even realise that it is possible to have that assurance. They are vhatendi, “consenters.” They have consented to a new way of life, to abandoning (some of) the old customs. Lutendo means to them at most some steadfastness in that new way of life.
The concept of faith in religion is strange to Africa. It is an essential part of a religion of revelation such as Christianity or Islam, but not of a naturalistic religion such as Venda religion, in which not faith and belief are important, but ritual, and not so much the content of the word as the power of it.
The terms employed in the Venda Bible for this vital Christian concept have done nothing to effect a change in the approach of the Venda to religion.
It is a pity that not only in the Venda translation has this been the case, but in all the other Southern Bantu languages. In the Nguni languages the term ukukholwa, “to believe a fact,” has been used for pisteuo, and ukholo, the deverbative of ukukholwa, for pistis. In some of the older Protestant translations in Zulu, but not in the new translation, the term ithemba, “trust”, has been used.
Some languages, including Santali, have two terms — like English (see above) — to differentiate a noun from a verb form. Biswạs is used for “faith,” whereas pạtiạu for “believe.” R.M. Macphail (in The Bible Translator 1961, p. 36ff. ) explains this choice: “While there is little difference between the meaning and use of the two in everyday Santali, in which any word may be used as a verb, we felt that in this way we enriched the translation while making a useful distinction, roughly corresponding to that between ‘faith’ and ‘to believe’ in English.”
Likewise, in Noongar, koort-karni or “heart truth” is used for the noun (“faith”) and djinang-karni or “see true” for the verb (“believe”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Hungarian Sign Language “faith” is translated with a sign that refers to the gesture of clinging to God, which expresses a certainty in things unseen (see Hebrews 11:1). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
This verse summarizes and concludes the section which begins at 2.17. In the first part of the verse, Paul focuses on his own experience, but by the end of the verse he seems to be associating himself as usual with the other two men who have shared his work. (New English Bible translates otherwise.) Here, in contrast to verse 1, the transitional that is why points backwards to the reason Paul has just indicated. I had to send Timothy is implied. The Greek has simply “I sent (him),” but most translations supply “Timothy”; “had to” is less essential; Bijbel in Gewone Taal restructures: “So I could hold out no longer, and therefore obtained information about your faith.” The “know” of King James Version and Revised Standard Version fails to bring out a distinction between the words for “know” used here and in verse 3-4. Here it is a question of “getting to know” or “finding out” something.
The expression I had to send Timothy should not be translated in such a way as to imply that someone compelled Paul to send Timothy. The compulsion was born of Paul’s own feelings and love for the Thessalonians. Therefore, one can often translate more effectively as “that is why I felt I must send Timothy.”
I could not bear it any longer is a direct reflection of the first sentence in 3.1. Again, this is a reference to Paul’s not being able to endure longer his absence from or lack of information about the Thessalonians. In this instance one may translate “I could not continue any longer not knowing about you.”
About your faith is sufficiently clear in English, but Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes the phrase rather more explicit: “how it stands” (that is, what the position is) “about your faith.” Paul is here not so concerned about the specific content of the faith which the Thessalonians had, but about how they were continuing in their trust and confidence in Jesus Christ. This may be rendered as “to find out how you were progressing in your trusting Christ,” or “to know how you were making out in your faith in Christ.”
There is no serious doubt about the connection of 5b (surely it could not be…!) with what precedes, but Paul does not put it into words. Many translators supply a verb indicating anxiety: New English Bible “fearing that the tempter might have tempted you”; Barclay “for I was worried in case the tempter had tempted you” (cf. Zürcher BibelDie Bibel im heutigen DeutschBible en français courantLa Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond réviséeJerusalem BibleTraduction œcuménique de la Bible). Good News Translation‘s exclamation conveys the implied emotion, but perhaps overstates Paul’s confidence. Another possibility is to transform the original indirect question into a direct one: “What if the tempter…?” or “Could it be that the tempter…?”
“The tempter might have tempted” provokes the question: “What else would one expect the tempter to do?” How is the translator to avoid the flatness and redundancy of this expression? The question is not only stylistic; it is a question about what precisely Paul meant. One partial answer is that he was using “the Tempter” as a proper name or title of Satan (in the same way as “the Baptizer” became a title of John the Baptist). That is why Good News Translation (cf. Bible en français courantBiblia Dios Habla Hoy) has the Devil, and Bible de Jérusalem and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible have “the Tempter” with explanatory notes. A second factor is that the verb tempted, in the mood and tense used here, implies a real event at a specific point of time, not something like “lest perchance the devil might tempt you.” This is brought our by Good News Translation‘s pluperfect had tempted, and still more clearly by Bible de Jérusalem‘s “already.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s “the tempter could have brought you to (a) fall” makes explicit the fear that the Thessalonians had not only been tempted, but that they had given in to the temptation. This meaning is not normally included in the meaning of “tempt,” but the last part of the verse virtually demands it here. One other possible rendering is: “What if the devil had tempted you in such a way as to make all our work useless?” The lack of explicit connections in this verse reflects the tension of the situation. Even the memory of his anxiety seems to start Paul’s thought moving faster than he can dictate.
It is extremely difficult in some languages to render the type of exclamation occurring in the last sentence of verse 5, Surely it could not be that the Devil had tempted you, and all our work had been for nothing! This exclamation reflects his deep concern. Accordingly, it may be necessary to use a direct statement, as in the Greek text, introduced by a verb of “worry,” “concern,” or “constant thinking about,” for example, “I could not keep from worrying that the Devil had tempted you and all our work had been for nothing,” or “I kept asking myself whether perhaps the Devil had tempted you….”
Work (cf. 1.3) is a word which implies costly effort (cf. Barclay “hard work”); it should not be confused with the current usage in which “the work” becomes a mere synonym for church activities in general. For nothing (see the notes on 2.1) means here “unproductive,” “fruitless,” with the additional component of a change of situation, in which the evangelists’ work is made useless or “reduced to nothing” (La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée). Phillips‘ translation, “to make sure that the tempter’s activities had not destroyed our work,” is excellent and natural English, but it disguises the fact that the English word “work” can mean both labor, the act of working, and the product of that activity (cf. “handiwork”). In the first sense, work cannot be undone, yet this is the primary meaning of the Greek word Paul uses. In some languages, though not in English, it may be necessary to preserve the distinction by some such expression as “destroy the results of all our work.”
The possible fruitlessness of Paul’s activity in Thessalonica can be expressed in two different ways: (1) either as accomplishing nothing, for example, “all our work there has turned out to be nothing” or “all our work there really ended up with no results;” or (2) it can be an expression of destruction of what has been accomplished, for example, “that all our work there has been destroyed,” or “that all we did there had been ruined.”
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 .
For this reason: Commentators do not agree about what this refers to. There are two possibilities:
(1) It refers back to 3:4. Paul was saying that, because he knew that the Thessalonians were being persecuted, he was anxious about them.
(Good News Translation, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, SSA)
(2) It refers forward to the rest of 3:5. Paul was saying that, because he could no longer stand not knowing how the Thessalonians were, he had sent Timothy. In this case, this verse repeats 3:1a, which contains a similar phrase in Greek.
Many English versions are ambiguous, and it may be possible for you to translate this in a way that leaves both possibilities open. However, if that is not possible, it is recommended that you follow the first option (1), along with the majority of English versions that are not ambiguous.
3:5b
I sent: The Greek text does not explicitly say whom Paul sent, but from the context it is clear that he was referring to Timothy. You may need to make this explicit in your translation. For example:
I sent Timothy (Contemporary English Version)
to find out about your faith: Paul was not spying, nor did he want to know what facts the Thessalonians believed. He wanted to know whether they still firmly believed in Jesus Christ.
3:5c
for fear that: These words translate the Greek phrase mē pōs, which means “lest.” Paul was concerned that the Thessalonians might have stopped believing in Christ.
the tempter: This refers to Satan, the devil. The same expression is also used in Matthew 4:3. If your readers would not understand that this term refers to Satan, you could:
• make explicit that it refers to Satan, for example, use an expression such as “Satan, the one who tempts people.”
• replace the term “the tempter” with “Satan” or “the devil”. For example:
Satan (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
devil (New Century Version)
• use a footnote or a note in the glossary.
had somehow tempted you: In some languages the same word is used for “tempting” and “testing” and it is necessary to specify what someone is tempting people to do. In this context, Paul meant that he was afraid that the devil might have successfully tempted the Thessalonians to stop believing in Jesus.
3:5d
our labor: This refers to the effort Paul and his companions had made as they worked and preached so that the Thessalonians would follow Christ.
to be in vain: However, if Satan had succeeded in tempting the Thessalonians to stop following Christ, all that effort would have been worthless.
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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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