| Berean Study Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more. | 1Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God--as you are doing--do so even more. |
| 2For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. | 2For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. |
| 3For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; | 3For this is God's will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, |
| 4each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, | 4so that each of you knows how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, |
| 5not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; | 5not with lustful desires, like the Gentiles who don't know God. |
| 6and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. | 6This means one must not transgress against and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. |
| 7For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. | 7For God has not called us to impurity but to sanctification. |
| 8Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit. | 8Therefore, the person who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who also gives you His Holy Spirit. |
| 9Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. | 9About brotherly love: You don't need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. |
| 10And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more | 10In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers, to do so even more, |
| 11and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. | 11to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, |
| 12Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone. | 12so that you may walk properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. |
| 13Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. | 13We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. |
| 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. | 14Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. |
| 15By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. | 15For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord's coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep. |
| 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. | 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. |
| 17After that, 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 will always be with the Lord. | 17Then we who are still alive 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. |
| 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. | 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. |
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