1 Thessalonians 4

1 Moreover, brethren, as you learnt from our lips the lives which you ought to live, and do live, so as to please God, we beg and exhort you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live them more and more truly.

Further, friends, we beg and urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus to carry out more fully than ever – as indeed you are already doing – all that you have heard from us as to what your daily life must be, if it is to please God.

2 For you know the commands which we laid upon you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

For you have not forgotten the directions that we gave you on the authority of our Lord Jesus.

3 For this is God's will--your purity of life, that you abstain from fornication;

For this is God’s purpose – that you should be pure; abstaining from all immorality;

4 that each man among you shall know how to procure a wife who shall be his own in purity and honour;

each of you learning to gain control over your own body, in a way that is holy and honourable,

5 that you be not overmastered by lustful cravings, like the Gentiles who have no knowledge of God;

and not for the mere gratification of your passions, like the Gentiles who know nothing of God;

6 and that in this matter there be no encroaching on the rights of a brother Christian and no overreaching him. For the Lord is an avenger in all such cases, as we have already taught you and solemnly warned you.

none of you overreaching or taking advantage of their fellow follower of the Lord in such matters. The Lord takes vengeance on all who do such things, as we have already warned you and solemnly declared.

7 God has not called us to an unclean life, but to one of purity.

For God does not call us to an impure life, but demands holiness.

8 Therefore a defiant spirit in such a case provokes not man but God, who puts His Holy Spirit into your hearts.

Therefore the person who disregards this warning disregards, not people, but God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

9 But on the subject of love for the brotherhood it is unnecessary for me to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another;

As to love for each other there is no need to write to you; for you have yourselves been taught by God to love one another;

10 and indeed you do love all the brethren throughout Macedonia. And we exhort you to do so more and more,

and indeed you do act in this spirit towards all his people throughout Macedonia. Yet, friends, we beg you to do even more.

11 and to vie with one another in eagerness for peace, every one minding his own business and working with his hands, as we ordered you to do:

Make it your ambition to live quietly, and to attend to your own business, and to work with your hands, as we directed you;

12 so as to live worthy lives in relation to outsiders, and not be a burden to any one.

so that your conduct may win respect from those outside the church, and that you may not want for anything.

13 Now, concerning those who from time to time pass away, we would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, lest you should mourn as others do who have no hope.

We don’t want you to be ignorant, friends, about those who have passed to their rest. We don’t want you to grieve like other people who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus has died and risen again, we also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who shall have passed away.

For, as we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring, with Jesus, those who through him have passed to their rest.

15 For this we declare to you on the Lord's own authority--that we who are alive and continue on earth until the Coming of the Lord, shall certainly not forestall those who shall have previously passed away.

This we tell you on the authority of the Lord – that those of us who are still living at the coming of the Lord will not anticipate those who have passed to their rest.

16 For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a loud word of command, and with an archangel's voice and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

For, with a loud summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the trumpet-call of God, the Lord himself will come down from heaven.

17 Afterwards we who are alive and are still on earth will be caught up in their company amid clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

Then those who died in union with Christ will rise first; and afterwards we who are still living will be caught up in the clouds, with them, to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be for ever with the Lord.

18 And so we shall be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Therefore, comfort one another with what I have told you.