William Tyndale (Pentateuch, Jonah &NT)

The fyrst epistle of S. Paul vnto the Tessalonyans.
A Prologe to the fyrst epistle of S. Paul to the Thessalonyans.

This pystle dyd Paul wryte of exceadynge loue and care: and prayseth them in the .ij. fyrst Chapters / because they dyd receaue the gospell ernestly / and had in tribulacion and persecucion continued therin stedfastlye / and were become an ensample vnto all congregacions / and had therto soffred of their awne kynsmen as Christ and his Apostles dyd of the Iewes / puttinge them therto in mynde / how purelye and godlye he had lyued amonge them to their ensample / & thanketh God that his gospell had brought forth soche frute amonge them.


In the thyrde Chapter / he sheweth his diligce and care / least his so great laboure and their so blessed a begynnynge shuld haue been in vayne / Satan and his Apostles vexinge them with persecucion / and destroyenge their fayth with mnes doctryne. And therfore he sent Timothe to them to comforte them and strength them in the fayth / and thanketh God that they had so constantly endured / and desyred God to encrease them.

In the fourth he exhorteth them to kepe them selues from synne / and to do good one to another. And therto he informeth them concerninge the resurreccion.

In the fyueth he wryteth of the last daye / that it shuld come sodenlye / exhortinge to prepare them selues therafter and to kepe a good order concerninge obedience and rule.

The fyrst epistle of S. Paul vnto the Tessalonyans.
The fyrst Chapter.

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[Untitled Possibly Huge Image] Paul / Syluanus and Timotheus. Vnto the congregacion of the Tessalonyans / in God the father / & in þe Lorde Iesus Christ.

Grace be with you / and peace from God oure father / and from the Lorde Iesus Christ.

We geve God thkes all waye for you all / makinge mension of you in oure prayers with out


ceasynge / and call to remembraunce youre worke in the faythe / and labour in love & perseveraunce in the hope of oure lorde Iesus Christ /
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in the sight of God oure father: because we knowe brethren beloved of god / how þt ye are electe. For oure gospell came not vnto you in worde only / but also in power / and also in the holy gost and in moche certayntie / as ye knowe after what maner we behaued oure selves amonge you / for youre sakes.

And ye became folowers of vs and of the lord / and receaved the worde in moche affliccion / with ioye of the holy gost: so that ye were an ensample to all that beleve in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the worde of the lorde / not in Macedonia and in Achaia only: but youre fayth also which ye have vnto god / spred her silfe abroade in all quartars / so greatly that it nedeth not vs to speake eny thynge at all. For they th selves shewe of you what maner of entrynge in we had vnto you & how ye tourned to God from ymages / for to serve the livynge & true god / & for to loke for his sonne from heven / whom he raysed from deeth: I mean Iesus which delivereth vs from wrath to come.

The .ii. Chapter.

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For ye youre selves knowe brethren of oure entraunce in vnto you / howe that it was not in vayne: but even after that we had suffered before and were shamfully entreated at Phillippos (as ye well knowe) then were we bolde in oure God to speake
vnto you the gospell of God / with moche strivynge. Oure exhortacion was not to brynge you to erroure / nor yet to vnclennes / nether was it with gyle: but as we were alowed of God / that the gospell shuld be cobar.gifmitted vnto vs: even so we speake / not as though we entended to please men / but God / which trieth oure hertes.

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Nether was oure conversacion at eny tyme [wt] flatterynge wordes / as ye well knowe nether in cloked coveteousnes / God is recorde: nether sought we prayse of men / nether of you / nor yet of eny other / when we myght have bene chargeable / as the apostles of Christ but we were tender amonge you / even as a norsse cheressheth her children / so was oure affeccion towarde you / oure good will was to have dealte vnto you / not the gospell of God only: but also oure awne soules / because ye were deare vnto vs.

cross.gif Ye remember brethr oure laboure & travayle. 1.BFor we laboured daye & nyght / because we wolde not be greveous vnto eny of you / & preached vnto you þe gospell of God. Ye are witnesses / 2.B & so is god / how holyly & iustly & vnblameable we behaved oure selves amonge you that beleve: as ye knowe how that we exhorted and comforted and besought every one of you / as a father his childr /

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that ye wolde walke worthy of God / which hath called you vnto his kyngdome and glory.

For this cause thanke we god with out ceasynge / because that when ye receaved of vs


the worde wherwith God was preached / ye receaved it not as the worde of man: but even as it was in dede / the worde of God / which worketh in you that beleve. cross.gif For ye brethr became folowers of the congregacions of god which in Iewry are in Christ Iesu: for ye have suffered lyke thynges of youre kynsmen as we oure selves have suffered of the Iewes.
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Which as they kylled the lorde Iesus & their awne prophetes / even so have they persecuted vs / and God they please not / & are contrary to all men and forbid vs to preache vnto the gentyls / that they myght be saved / to fulfill their synnes all waye. For the wrath of God is come on them / even to the vtmost.

For as moch brethren as we are kept from you for a season / as concernynge the bodyly presence / but not in the herte / we enforsed the more to se you personally with great desire. And therfore we wolde have come vnto you / I paul once and agayne: but Satan with stode vs. For what is oure hope or ioye / or croune of reioysynge? are not ye it in the presence of oure lorde Iesus Christ at his cobar.gifmynge? yes ye are oure glory and ioye.

The .iii. Chapter.

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UVherfore sence we coulde no lenger forbeare / it pleased vs to remayne at Athens alone / 3.A and sent Timotheus oure brother and minister of god / and oure laboure felowe in the gospell of Christ / to stablysshe you & to cobar.gifforte you over youre fayth / þt no m shulde be moved in these afflicciobar.gifs.
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For ye youre selves knowe that we are even apoynted therevnto. For verely when I was with you / I tolde you before that we shulde suffre tribulacion / even as it came to passe / & as ye knowe. For this cause / when I coulde no lenger forbeare / I sent / that I myght have knowledge of youre fayth / lest haply the tempter had tempted you / and that oure laboure had bene bestowed in vayne.

But now lately wh Timotheus came frobar.gif you vnto vs / and declared to vs youre fayth & youre love and how that ye have good remembraunce of vs all wayes / desyringe to se vs as we desyre to se you.

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Therfore brethr we had consolacion in you / in all oure adversite & necessite / through youre fayth. For now are we alyve / yf ye stonde stedfast in the lorde. For what thankes can we recompence to god agayne for you / over all the ioye that we ioye for youre sakes before oure god / whyle we / nyght and daye praye excedingly that we myght se you presently / and myght fulfill that wich is lackynge in youre fayth.

God him silfe oure father and oure lorde Iesus Christ gyde oure iorney vnto you: and the lorde increace you & make you flowe ouer

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in love one towarde another / and towarde all men / even as we do towarde you / to make youre hertes stable and vnblameable / in holynes before God oure father / at the commynge of oure Lorde Iesus Christ / with all his sainctes.

The .iiii. Chapter. cross.gif

Further more we beseche you brethren / & exhorte you in the lorde Iesus / that ye increace more and more / euen as ye have receaved of vs /

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how ye ought to walke & to please god. 4.AYe remember what commaundmtes we gave you in oure lorde Iesu Christ. For this is the will of god / even that ye shuld be holy / and that ye shuld abstayne from fornicacion / that every one of you shuld knowe how to kepe his vessell in holynes and honoure / and not in the lust of concupiscence / as do the hethen which knowe not god / that no man goo to farre and defraude his brother in bargayninge: because the lorde is a venger of all suche thinges as we tolde you before tyme & testified. For god hath not called vs vnto vnclennes: but vnto holynes. He therfore that despiseth / despiseth not man / but God / which hath sent his holy sprete amonge you. cross.gif

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5.BBut as touchynge brotherly love / ye nede not that I wryte vnto you. For ye are taught of God to love on another. Ye and that thinge verely ye do vnto all the brethr which are thorow oute all Macedonia. We beseche you brethren that ye encreace more & more / & that ye studye to be quyet / 6.B and to medle with youre awne busynes / and to worke with youre awne hondes / as we commaunded you: that ye maye behave youre selves honestly towarde them that are with out / and that nothinge be lackynge vnto you.

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7.C cross.gif I wolde not brethren have you ignorat concerninge them which are fallen aslepe /
that ye sorowe not as other do which have no hope. For yf we beleve that Iesus dyed & rose agayne: even so them also which slepe by IeIesus / will God brynge agayne with him. And this saye we vnto you in the worde of the Lorde / that we which live and are remayninge in the comminge of the Lorde / shall not come yerre they which slepe. For the Lorde him selfe shall descende frobar.gif hev with a showte and the voyce of the archangell and trompe of God. 8.CAnd the deed in Christe shall aryse fyrst: then shall we which live and remayne / be caught vp with them also in the cloudes / to mete the Lorde in þe ayer. And so shall we ever be with the Lorde. Wherfore cobar.gifforte youre selves one another with these word[es] cross.gif

The .v. Chapter.

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Of the tymes and seasons brethren ye have no nede that I write vnto you: for ye youre selves knowe parfectly / that the daye of the Lorde shall come even as a thefe in the nyght. When they shall saye peace and no daunger / than commeth on the soden destruccion / 9.A as the travalynge of a wom with childe / & they shall not scape. But ye brethr are not in darcknes / that þt daye shuld come on you as it were a thefe. cross.gif Ye are all the childr of light / & the children of þe daye. We are not of þe nyght nether of darcknes.

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Therfore let vs not slepe as do other: but let vs watch and be sober. 10.BFor they that slepe slepe in the nyght: and they that be dronken / are dronken in the nyght. But let vs which
are of the daye / be sober / 11.B armed with the brest plate of fayth and love / and with hope of salvaciobar.gif as an helmet. For god hath not apoynted vs vnto wrath: but to obtayne salvacion by þe meanes of oure lorde Iesu Christ which died for vs: that whether we wake or slepe / we shuld lyve togedder with him.

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Wherfore comforte youre selves togedder / and edifie one another / even as ye do. cross.gif

We beseche you brethren / that ye knowe them which laboure amonge you & have the oversight of you in the Lorde & geve you exhortacion / that ye have them the more in love / for their workes sake / and be at peace with them. cross.gif We desyre you brethr / warne them that are vnruly / comforte the feble mynded / forbeare the weake / have continuall pacience towarde all men. Se that none recobar.gifpence evill for evyll vnto eny man: but ever folowe that which is good / both amonge youre selves / and to all men. Reioyce ever. Praye cobar.giftinually. In all thing[es] geve thankes. For this is the wyll of God in Christ Iesu towarde you.

Quenche not the 12.C sprete. Despise not prophesyinge. Examen all thinges / & kepe that which is good. Abstayne from all suspicious thing[es]. The very God of peace sanctifie you thorow out. 13.CAnd I praye God that youre whole sprete / soulse & body / be kept fautlesse vnto þe cobar.gifmynge of oure Lorde Iesus Christ cross.gif Faythfull is he which called you: which will also do it. Brethr / praye for vs. 14.CGrete all the brethren with an holy kysse. I charge you in


the Lorde / that this pistle be reed vnto all the holy brethren. The grace of the Lorde Iesus Christ be with you. Amen.

The fyrst pistle vnto the Tessalonyans sent from Athens.

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