| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 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. | 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. |
| 2For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. | 2For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. |
| 3For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: | 3God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. |
| 4That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; | 4Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— |
| 5Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: | 5not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 7For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. | 7God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. |
| 8He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit. | 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. |
| 9But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. | 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. |
| 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; | 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. |
| 11And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; | 11Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. |
| 12That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. | 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 |
| 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. | 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. |
| 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. | 18So encourage each other with these words. |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | 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. |
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