| New King James Version | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; | 1Additionally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God--as you are doing--do this even more. |
| 2for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. | 2For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. |
| 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; | 3For this is God's will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, |
| 4that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, | 4that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, |
| 5not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; | 5not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don't know God. |
| 6that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. | 6This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. |
| 7For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. | 7For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. |
| 8Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. | 8Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. |
| 9But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are 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 indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; | 10In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, |
| 11that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, | 11to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, |
| 12that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. | 12so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. |
| 13But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. | 13We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. |
| 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. | 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. |
| 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 by no means precede those who are asleep. | 15For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord's coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. |
| 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. | 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. |
| 17Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. | 17Then we who are still 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. |
| 18Therefore comfort one another with these words. | 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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