| Berean Study Bible | New International Version |
| 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. | 1As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. |
| 2For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. | 2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. |
| 3For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; | 3It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; |
| 4each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, | 4that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, |
| 5not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; | 5not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not 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. | 6and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. |
| 7For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. | 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. |
| 8Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit. | 8Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who 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. | 9Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. |
| 10And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more | 10And in fact, you do love all of God's family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, |
| 11and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. | 11and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, |
| 12Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone. | 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. |
| 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. | 13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, 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. | 14For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. |
| 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. | 15According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede 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 come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call 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. | 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. |
| 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. | 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. |
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