| New Living Translation | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 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. | 1Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. |
| 2For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. | 2For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. |
| 3God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. | 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; |
| 4Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— | 4that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, |
| 5not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. | 5not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; |
| 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. | 6and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. |
| 7God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. | 7For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. |
| 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. | 8So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. |
| 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. | 9Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; |
| 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. | 10for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, |
| 11Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. | 11and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, |
| 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 | 12so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. |
| 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. | 13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. |
| 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. | 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. |
| 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. | 15For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. |
| 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. | 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. |
| 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. | 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. |
| 18So encourage each other with these words. | 18Therefore comfort one another with these words. |
| 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. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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