Passage

2 Thessalonians 2.10

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"8. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming; 9. even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,"

"10. and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."

"11. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: 12. that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"8. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming; 9. even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,"

"10. and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved."

"11. Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; 12. that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,"

"10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."

"11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"8. and then shall be revealed the Lawless One, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the manifestation of his presence, 9. [him,] whose presence is according to the working of the Adversary, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders,"

"10. and in all deceitfulness of the unrighteousness in those perishing, because the love of the truth they did not receive for their being saved,"

"11. and because of this shall God send to them a working of delusion, for their believing the lie, 12. that they may be judged, all who did not believe the truth, but were well pleased in the unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: the Apostle Paul (with Silvanus and Timothy in the salutation)
Audience: the Thessalonian church (Macedonia), facing persecution and confused about the timing and signs of the Day of the Lord
Location: likely Corinth (composition)
Time period: c. AD 50-51, very soon after 1 Thessalonians

Theological reading

The verse names the dynamic by which final destruction comes upon tois apollumenois ("those who perish," present-participle of [[G0622 - apollymi|apollymi]]). The perishing is not arbitrary divine assignment; the verse explicitly grounds it in the agents' moral-volitional refusal: because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. The present-participle naming is important. Apollumenois names a current-trajectory, an in-process state of perishing that Paul presents as the inverse of being-saved (sōthēnai); the verse's logic is that the same truth which would save was offered and was refused, and the deception of the lawless one finds purchase precisely in those who have already rejected the love of the truth. Paul's anthropology in this stretch operates with genuine human responsibility, not raw determinism: God's working of error (v. 11) is a judicial-handing-over consequent on prior moral refusal, not a prior cause of that refusal. The passage is one of the four load-bearing NT loci for the apollymi-vocabulary in eschatological register (alongside Matt 10:28; John 3:16; 1 Cor 1:18).

Key words

G0622 - apollymi, apollymenois (present-participle, "those who are perishing"). The verb names the trajectory the gospel reverses; the present-participle marks the in-process state.

Quoted in

G0622 - apollymi

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.