¹And we ask you, brothers concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering up to him, ²for you not to be quickly shaken from a sound mind, nor to be troubled either through a spirit or a saying or an epistle supposedly from us, claiming that the day of Christ is immediately at hand. ³Let no-one deceive you in any way, because it will not come until the apostasy has come first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴who is opposed and self-exalted against everything called God, or object of worship, so that he sits as God in the sanctuary of God, putting himself forward as God. ⁵Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I used to tell you these things? ⁶And now you know the restraining factor in him being revealed in his own time. ⁷For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, except that there is the one who is currently doing the restraining until he emerges from the arena. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate at the manifestation of his coming, ⁹him whose coming is with Satanic energizing, with all kinds of power and signs and lying miracles, ¹⁰and with all kinds of unjust deceit among those who are on the road to being lost, because they did not receive the love of the truth, which was for them to be saved. ¹¹And for this reason God will send them a deluding force so that they believe the lie, ¹²in order that all those who have not believed the truth, but taken satisfaction in unrighteousness, may be judged. ¹³But we have a debt to give thanks to God at all times for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, in that God chose you from the beginning with a goal of salvation, with sanctification of the spirit and with faith in the truth. ¹⁴And to this he called you through our gospel: to be a glorious acquisition of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you have been taught, whether by spoken word or by our epistle. ¹⁶And may our Lord himself, Jesus Christ, and our God and father who loved us and gave age-abiding encouragement and good hope by grace ¹⁷encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.