¹ As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our being gathered to meet him, we beg you, friends,

² not lightly to let your minds become unsettled, or disturbed by any revelation, or by any message, or by any letter, purporting to come from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is come.

³ Do not let anyone deceive you, whatever he may do. For it will not come until after the Great Apostasy, and the appearing of that Incarnation of Wickedness, that the Lost soul,

⁴ who so opposes himself to everyone that is spoken of as a God or as an object of worship, and so exalts himself above them, that he seats himself in the Temple of God, and displays himself as God!

⁵ Do not you remember how, when I was with you, I used to speak to you of all this?

⁶ And you know now what the restraining influence is which prevents his appearing before his appointed time.

⁷ Wickedness, indeed, is already at work in secret; but only until he who at present restrains it is removed out of the way.

⁸ Then will ‘Wickedness Incarnate’ appear, but the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his lips, and annihilate him by the splendor of his coming.

⁹ For at the coming of the Lord there will be great activity on the part of Satan, in the form of all kinds of deceptive miracles, signs, and marvels, as well as of wicked attempts to delude —

¹⁰ to the ruin of those who are on the path to destruction, because they have never received and loved the truth to their own salvation.

¹¹ That is why God places them under the influence of a delusion, to cause them to believe a lie;

¹² so that sentence may be passed on all those who refuse to believe the truth, but delight in wickedness.

¹³ But, friends, whom the Lord loves, it is our duty always to thank God about you, for, from the first, God chose you for salvation through the purifying influence of the Spirit, and your belief in the truth.

¹⁴ To this you were called by the good news which we brought you, to attain to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ Stand firm then, friends, and hold fast to the truths that we taught you, whether by word or by letter.

¹⁶ And may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and, in his loving kindness, gave us unfailing consolation and good ground for hope,

¹⁷ console your hearts, and strengthen you to do and to say all that is right.