For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.

For even when we were with you, we foretold you that we should suffer tribulations, as also it is come to pass, and you know.

for even when we were with you, we said to you beforehand, that we are about to suffer tribulation, as also it did come to pass, and ye have known it;

For even when we were with you, we forewarned you, saying, "We are soon to suffer affliction;" and this actually happened, as you well know.

And when we were with you, we said to you that trouble was before us; and so it came about, as you see.

For even while we were with you, we predicted to you that we would suffer tribulations, even as it has happened, and as you know.

For, even while we were with you, we warned you beforehand that we were certain to encounter trouble. And so it proved, as you know.

For verily, when we were with you, we told you before - It is not mentioned in the history Acts 17 that Paul thus predicted that special trials would come upon them, but there is no improbability in what is here said. He was with them long enough to discourse to them on a great variety of topics, and nothing can be more probable, than that in their circumstances, the subjects of persecution and affliction would be prominent topics of discourse. There was every reason to apprehend that they would meet with opposition on account of their religion, and nothing was more natural than that Paul should endearour to prepare their minds for it beforehand,
That we should suffer tribulation - We who preached to you; perhaps also including those to whom they preached.
Even as it came to pass, and ye know - When Paul, Silas, and Timothy were driven away, and when the church was so much agitated, by the opposition of the Jews; Acts 17:5-8.

That we should suffer tribulation - I prepared you for it, because I knew that it was according to their nature for wicked men to persecute the followers of God.

For, verily, when we were with you,.... In presence, in person, as they then were in heart and affection; when they were first among them, and preached the Gospel to them:
we told you before; before it came to pass;
that we should suffer tribulation: which they might say by virtue of Christ's prediction to all his disciples, that they should have tribulation in the world; and upon its being the common case of God's people, and the usual way through which they enter the kingdom; and the Apostle Paul might foretell this, upon the discovery that was made to him how many things he should suffer for the sake of Christ, and which therefore he always, and in every place expected; and he might have a particular revelation of the disturbance and opposition he was to meet with at Thessalonica:
even as it came to pass, and ye know; referring to the tumult and uproar in Acts 17:5, and which should be considered so far from being a discouragement, that it was a great confirmation of the truth of their mission and ministry; nor could it be so surprising to them as it might have been had they had no previous taste of it.

that we should suffer--Greek, "that we are about (we are sure) to suffer" according to the appointment of God (1-Thessalonians 3:3).
even as--"even (exactly) as it both came to pass and ye know"; ye know both that it came to pass, and that we foretold it (compare John 13:19). The correspondence of the event to the prediction powerfully confirms faith: "Forewarned, forearmed" [EDMUNDS]. The repetition of "ye know," so frequently, is designed as an argument, that being forewarned of coming affliction, they should be less readily "moved" by it.