For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
Parallel translations
- WEB For what thanksgiving can we render again to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sakes before our God;
- BSB How can we adequately thank God for you in return for our great joy over you in His presence?
- NKJV For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God,
- NASB For what thanks can we give to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice because of you before our God,
- NLT How we thank God for you! Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul cannot thank God enough for the joy these believers bring him. Gratitude overflows beyond what he can express.
Overview
Paul asks what thanks could possibly match the joy he feels before God on their account. His joy is God-ward, rejoicing "before our God," recognizing God as the source of their faith. Overflowing thanksgiving is the fitting response when one sees God's grace at work in others.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 2 Cor 9:15Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
- Ps 96:12–13Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
- 1 Th 1:2–3We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
- Ps 71:14–15But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.
- 1 Th 3:7–8Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith:
- 2 Sam 7:18–20Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?
- Deut 16:11And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
- Ps 98:8–9Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
- 2 Sam 6:21And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD.
- 1 Th 2:19For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
- Neh 9:5Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
- Deut 12:18But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.
- Deut 12:2Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
- Ps 68:3But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
- 2 Cor 2:14Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
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Christ at the center
The believer waits for God's Son from heaven, Jesus who delivers from the wrath to come and who will return to gather his people to himself.
How 1 Thessalonians 3:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.