1 Tsî ǃaruǀî ge ge tani ǁoa, o khom ge sikhoma ǀguri Atenes ǃnâ hâsa ge mîǀgui. 2 Tsî khom ge Timoteub sikhom di ǃgâsa tsî sîsenǁare-aob Elob dib, ǃGâiǂhôas Xristub* dis ǃnâba ge sî, ǁîb nî sado ǀgaiǀgaiǃnâ tsî ǁnamase sadu ǂgoms ǃaroma. 3 ǀGui-i âdu tsîn nē ǃgôaǃgondi xa ǃaromahe hâse ǁnobeǁnobehe tidega. Sadu ge aitsama ǂan nēs ǃoa da ǁgaumâihe hâ ǃkhaisa. 4 Sige gere ganupe ge noxopa sadu ǀkha hâ hîa sado ǃgôaǃgonhe ge nî ǃkhaisa mîba xui-ao; tsîs ge nēsa ǁnāti ge ī tsî du ge ǁnāsa ǂan. 5 Tsî ta ge ǁkhāti ǃaruǀî ta tani ǁoa xui-ao Timoteuba sadu di ǂgoms xab nî ǂanǂuise ge sî, îb ga ǃâitsâ-aoba tā sado ǁnātikōse ǃâitsâ tsîb sige sîsenna tā ǁause i.
6 Timoteub ge nēsi go oahā tsîb ge ǃGâiǂhôas sadu ǂgoms tsî ǀnammi disa go hā-ū. ǁÎb ge mâti du sado sige xa ǃgâise ǂâi tsî sige ǂûge khami sadu tsîna ra mû ge ǂgao ǃkhaisa ge mîba ge. 7 Tsî ge ge sige di ǁgâiǀāb tsî ǃgomma tsâs hoas ǃnâ sadu xa ge ǀgaiǀgaiǃnâhe, ǃgâsado, sadu ǂgomsa xu. 8 ǁNā-amaga ge ge sige ûitsama, sadu ga ǃKhūb ǃnâ mâǁapo-o. 9 Mâ gangan-e ge kha ǁnâi Eloba sadu ǃaroma mā ǁkhā, sadu ǃaroma ge sige Elob aiǃâ ūhâ ǃgâiaǂgaoba? 10 Tsî tsēb tsî tsuxuba ǃnāǂamsase Eloba ǃoa ra ǀgorese, sado aitsama mû tsî sadu ǂgoms ǃnâ ūhâ ǃnubusigu ǃnâ nî huise.
11 Ab sada Elob, ǁGûb tsî sada ǃKhūb Jesuba sige daob sadu ǃoa hâba ǂhomiba re. 12 Îb ǃKhūba sadu ǀnamma ǀaroǃnâ, î du ǃnāǂamsasib ǃnâ ǀnamgu, sige ǁkhāti sadu ǃoagu ī khami; 13 î gu ǁnās ǃaroma ǂgaogu âdo ūose ī, ǃanusib ǃnâ, sada Elo tsî ǁGûb aiǃâ, sada ǃKhūb Jesub ga ǁîb ǃanun ǀkha hāo.
1 Finally, we couldn't stand it any longer. We decided to stay in Athens by ourselves 2 and send our friend Timothy to you. He works with us as God's servant and preaches the good news about Christ. We wanted him to make you strong in your faith and to encourage you. 3 We didn't want any of you to be discouraged by all these troubles. You knew we would have to suffer, 4 because when we were with you, we told you this would happen. And we did suffer, as you well know. 5 At last, when I could not wait any longer, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith. I hoped Satan had not tempted you and made all our work useless.
6 Timothy has now come back from his visit with you and has told us about your faith and love. He also said that you always have happy memories of us and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you.
7 My friends, even though we have a lot of trouble and suffering, your faith makes us feel better about you. 8 Your strong faith in the Lord is like a breath of new life. 9 How can we possibly thank God enough for all the happiness you have brought us? 10 Day and night we sincerely pray that we will see you again and help you to have an even stronger faith.
11 We pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus will let us visit you. 12 May the Lord make your love for each other and for everyone else grow by leaps and bounds. This is how our love for you has grown. 13 And when our Lord comes with all his people, I pray he will make your hearts pure and innocent in the sight of God the Father.
