2 Thessalonians 1:6
“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →It is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict His people.
What Does 2 Thessalonians 1:6 Mean?
Paul continues to unfold why the Thessalonians' suffering points to a coming judgment. It is, he says, "a righteous thing with God" to repay trouble to those who trouble His people. The principle is one of divine justice: God will not let the oppression of the innocent stand forever unanswered.
This is not a license for the persecuted to take revenge; rather, it is the opposite. Because God Himself will set the scales right, His people are freed from the bitter burden of repaying evil for evil. They can entrust their cause to the One who judges justly. The verse speaks soberly to oppressors and tenderly to the oppressed: what is being done in the dark is fully known to God, and He is righteous enough to deal with it in His own time and way.