2 Thessalonians 3:18

THE MESSAGE

The incredible grace of our Master, Jesus Christ, be with all of you!

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

King James Version (1611)
The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all, Amen.The second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written from Athens.

King James Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

English Standard Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

New American Standard Bible
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

New Century Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Legacy Standard Bible
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Berean Standard Bible
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

Contemporary English Version
I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to all of you.

Complete Jewish Bible
The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you all.

Darby Translation
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all.

Easy-to-Read Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all, Amen. The second Epistle to the Thessalonians, written from Athens.

George Lamsa Translation
The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Good News Translation
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Lexham English Bible
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

Literal Translation
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Amplified Bible
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

American Standard Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Bible in Basic English
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Hebrew Names Version
The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you all. Amein.

International Standard Version
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.Amen">[fn]Romans 16:24;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
The grace of Jeshu Meshiha be with you all, my brethren. Amen.

Murdock Translation
The grace of Jesus the Messiah be with you all, my brethren. Amen.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Sent from Athens.

English Revised Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

World English Bible
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
The Salutation of Paul, with my own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Weymouth's New Testament
This is my handwriting. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The grace of oure Lord Jhesu Crist be with `alle you. Amen.

Update Bible Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Webster's Bible Translation
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen.

New English Translation
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

New King James Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

New Living Translation
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

New Life Bible
May all of you have loving-favor from our Lord Jesus Christ.

New Revised Standard
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The favour of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you all.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Revised Standard Version
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
The grace of oure lorde Iesus Christ be with you all Amen.

Young's Literal Translation
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [is] with you all! Amen.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The grace of oure LORDE Iesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Mace New Testament (1729)
the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. AMEN.

Simplified Cowboy Version
May the grace of God guide your hearts and minds down every trail.

Contextual Overview

¹⁶ May the Master of Peace himself give you the gift of getting along with each other at all times, in all ways. May the Master be truly among you! ¹⁷ I, Paul, bid you good-bye in my own handwriting. I do this in all my letters, so examine my signature as proof that the letter is genuine. ¹⁸ The incredible grace of our Master, Jesus Christ, be with all of you!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Romans 16:20, Romans 16:24

Reciprocal: Romans 1:7 - and the Lord 1 Thessalonians 5:28 - General 2 Thessalonians 3:16 - The Lord be Revelation 22:21 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 3:14
God told the serpent: "Because you've done this, you're cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life. I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel."

Job 1:21
Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I'll return to the womb of the earth. God gives, God takes. God's name be ever blessed.

Psalms 90:3
So don't return us to mud, saying, "Back to where you came from!" Patience! You've got all the time in the world—whether a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you. Are we no more to you than a wispy dream, no more than a blade of grass That springs up gloriously with the rising sun and is cut down without a second thought? Your anger is far and away too much for us; we're at the end of our rope. You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed since we were children is entered in your books. All we can remember is that frown on your face. Is that all we're ever going to get? We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty), And what do we have to show for it? Trouble. Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard. Who can make sense of such rage, such anger against the very ones who fear you?

Proverbs 22:5
The perverse travel a dangerous road, potholed and mud-slick; if you know what's good for you, stay clear of it.

Isaiah 7:23
But that's not the end of it. This country that used to be covered with fine vineyards—thousands of them, worth millions!—will revert to a weed patch. Weeds and thornbushes everywhere! Good for nothing except, perhaps, hunting rabbits. Cattle and sheep will forage as best they can in the fields of weeds—but there won't be a trace of all those fertile and well-tended gardens and fields.

Jeremiah 4:3
Here's another Message from God to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: "Plow your unplowed fields, but then don't plant weeds in the soil! Yes, circumcise your lives for God's sake. Plow your unplowed hearts, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem. Prevent fire—the fire of my anger— for once it starts it can't be put out. Your wicked ways are fuel for the fire.

Matthew 13:7
A Harvest Story At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories. "What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams. "Are you listening to this? Really listening?" The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?" He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated all over again: Your ears are open but you don't hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don't see a thing. The people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won't have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won't have to look, so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them. "But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance. "Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road. "The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. "The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it. "The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams." He told another story. "God's kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too. "The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn't it? Where did these thistles come from?' "He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.' "The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?' "He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you'll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I'll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.'" Another story. "God's kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it." Another story. "God's kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises." All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world's first day. Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, "Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field." So he explained. "The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels. "The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father. "Are you listening to this? Really listening? "God's kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field. "Or, God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it. "Or, God's kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That's how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won't do any good." Jesus asked, "Are you starting to get a handle on all this?" They answered, "Yes." He said, "Then you see how every student well-trained in God's kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it." When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meetinghouse. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise, get such ability?" But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "We've known him since he was a kid; he's the carpenter's son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?" They got their noses all out of joint. But Jesus said, "A prophet is taken for granted in his hometown and his family." He didn't do many miracles there because of their hostile indifference.

Romans 14:2
For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. This was the sign or token; :- The subscription to this epistle is, "The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written from Athens"; though it seems rather to be written from Corinth. In the Syriac version it is said,

"the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, which is written from Laodicea of Pisidia, and sent by the hands of Tychicus.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all; - See the notes, Romans 16:20.

From the subscription to this Epistle, it purports to have been “written from Athens.” This is probably incorrect, as there is reason to think that it was written from Corinth. See the introduction. At all events, this subscription is of no authority. See the notes at the end of the Epistles to the Romans and 1 Corinthians.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Thessalonians 3:18. The grace — The favour, blessing, and influence of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you all - be your constant companion. May you ever feel his presence, and enjoy his benediction!

Amen. — So let be! God grant it! This word in this place, has more evidence in favour of its genuineness than it has in most other places; and was probably added here by the apostle himself, or by the Church of the Thessalonians.

The subscriptions to this epistle are various in the MSS. and VERSIONS. The latter are as follows: -

The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written from Athens. - Common Greek text.

The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, which was written at Laodicea in Pisidia, was sent by the hands of Tychicus. - SYRIAC.

The end of the Epistle; and it was written at Athens. - ARABIC.

To the Thessalonians. - AETHIOPIC.

Written from Athens, and sent by Silvanus and Timotheus. - COPTIC.

No subscription in the VULGATE.

Written at Corinth. - Author of the SYNOPSIS.

--------- sent by Titus and Onesimus. - Latin Prologue.

The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, written from Rome. - No. 71, a MS. of the Vatican library, written about the eleventh century.

The chief of the MSS. either have no subscription, or agree with some of the above versions.

That the epistle was neither written at Athens, Laodicea, nor Rome, has been sufficiently proved; and that it was written, as well as the first, at Corinth, is extremely probable. See the preface, and what has been said on the preceding epistle.

I have often had occasion to observe that the subscriptions at the end of the sacred books are not of Divine origin; they are generally false; and yet some have quoted them as making a part of the sacred text, and have adduced them in support of some favourite opinions.

Finished correcting this epistle for a new edition, the shortest day in 1831. - A. C.