The Man of Lawlessness

1 Now concerning ^athe coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our ^bbeing gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,¹ 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or ^calarmed, either ^dby a spirit or a ^espoken word, or ^ea letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that ^fthe day of the Lord has come. 3 ^gLet no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, ^hunless the rebellion comes first, and ⁱthe man of lawlessness² is revealed, ^jthe son of destruction,³ 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, ^kproclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For ^lthe mystery of lawlessness ^mis already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then ⁿthe lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus ^owill kill with ^pthe breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by ^qthe appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan ^rwith all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for ^sthose who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore ^tGod sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe ^uwhat is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned ^vwho did not believe the truth but ^whad pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Firm

13 But ^xwe ought always to give thanks to God for you, ^ybrothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you ^zas the firstfruits^{1 a}to be saved, ^bthrough sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through ^cour gospel, ^aso that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, ^dstand firm and hold to ^ethe traditions that you were taught by us, either ^fby our spoken word or by ^four letter.

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, ^gwho loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good ^hhope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and ⁱestablish them in every good work and word.