| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and 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 ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. | 2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. |
| 3For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: | 3It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; |
| 4That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; | 4that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, |
| 5Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: | 5not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; |
| 6That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. | 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 hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. | 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. |
| 8He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us 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. |
| 9But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of 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 indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase 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 that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded 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, |
| 12That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. | 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. |
| 13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no 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 if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with 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. |
| 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are 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 shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: | 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. |
| 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever 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. |
| 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. | 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. |
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