| NET Bible | English Standard Version |
| 1Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) that you do so more and more. | 1Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. |
| 2For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. | 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. |
| 3For this is God's will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality, | 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; |
| 4that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor, | 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, |
| 5not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. | 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; |
| 6In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, because the Lord is the avenger in all these cases, as we also told you earlier and warned you solemnly. | 6that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. |
| 7For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. | 7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. |
| 8Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. | 8Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. |
| 9Now on the topic of brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. | 9Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, |
| 10And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters in all of Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, | 10for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, |
| 11to aspire to lead a quiet life, to attend to your own business, and to work with your hands, as we commanded you. | 11and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, |
| 12In this way you will live a decent life before outsiders and not be in need. | 12so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. |
| 13Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. | 13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. |
| 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. | 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. |
| 15For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. | 15For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. |
| 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the 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 cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. |
| 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly 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 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 encourage one another with these words. | 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. |
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