| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. | 1Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. |
| 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. | 2For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. |
| 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; | 3God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. |
| 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, | 4Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— |
| 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; | 5not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. |
| 6that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. | 6Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. |
| 7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. | 7God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. |
| 8Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. | 8Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. |
| 9Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, | 9But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another. |
| 10for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, | 10Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more. |
| 11and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, | 11Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. |
| 12so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. | 12Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. The Hope of the Resurrection |
| 13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. | 13And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. |
| 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. | 14For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. |
| 15For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. | 15We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. |
| 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. | 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. |
| 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. | 17Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. |
| 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. | 18So encourage each other with these words. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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