¹"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

²Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

³Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

⁴See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.

⁵Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendour."

⁶Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

⁷Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord , and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁸"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord .

⁹"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

¹¹so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

¹²You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

¹³Instead of the thorn-bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord 's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."

¹You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure.

²We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.

³For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.

⁴On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

⁵You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is our witness.

⁶We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.

⁷As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.

⁸We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.

⁹Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

¹⁰You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.

¹¹For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,

¹²encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

¹³And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

¹⁴For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews,

¹⁵who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men

¹⁶in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

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¹Not to us, O Lord , not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

²Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?"

³Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

⁴But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

⁵They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;

⁶they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell;

⁷they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.

⁸Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

⁹O house of Israel, trust in the Lord - he is their help and shield.

¹⁰O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord - he is their help and shield.

¹¹You who fear him, trust in the Lord - he is their help and shield.

¹²The Lord remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron,

¹³he will bless those who fear the Lord - small and great alike.

¹⁴May the Lord make you increase, both you and your children.

¹⁵May you be blessed by the Lord , the Maker of heaven and earth.

¹⁶The highest heavens belong to the Lord , but the earth he has given to man.

¹⁷It is not the dead who praise the Lord , those who go down to silence;

¹⁸it is we who extol the Lord , both now and forevermore. Praise the Lord .

¹Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.

²We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.

³We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,

⁵because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

⁶You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

⁷And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

⁸The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,

⁹for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

¹⁰and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

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