Two sources, the Acts of the Apostles and the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, inform us of the arrival, sojourn and activity of Paul in Thessalonica (Acts 17.1–9; 1 Thess 1.6–2.12), but they hardly tally with each other. Evidence of the Lukan redactor's hand in Acts 17.1–9 invites us to see this narrative as secondary, perhaps, in relation to the account Paul himself gives in 1 Thessalonians, particularly in 1 Thess 2.1–12. It would be of interest, then, to analyse this passage in Paul's letter to detect how he himself portrays the first