1 Thessalonians 4:13
New International Version
Brothers 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.

New Living Translation
And 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.

English Standard Version
But 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.

Berean Standard Bible
Brothers, 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.

Berean Literal Bible
But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those having fallen asleep, so that you should not be grieved, just as also the rest, those having no hope.

King James Bible
But 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.

New King James Version
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

New American Standard Bible
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope.

NASB 1995
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

NASB 1977
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.

Legacy Standard Bible
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

Amplified Bible
Now we do not want you to be uninformed, believers, about those who are asleep [in death], so that you will not grieve [for them] as the others do who have no hope [beyond this present life].

Christian Standard Bible
We 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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

American Standard Version
But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
I want you to know my brethren, that you should not have sorrow for those who are asleep, as do the rest of mankind who have no hope.

Contemporary English Version
My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who have already died. Then you won't grieve over them and be like people who don't have any hope.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And we will not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope.

English Revised Version
But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Brothers and sisters, we don't want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don't want you to grieve like other people who have no hope.

Good News Translation
Our friends, we want you to know the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are those who have no hope.

International Standard Version
But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve like other people who have no hope.

Literal Standard Version
And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, that you may not sorrow, as also the rest who have no hope,

Majority Standard Bible
Brothers, 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.

New American Bible
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

NET Bible
Now 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.

New Revised Standard Version
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

New Heart English Bible
But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

Webster's Bible Translation
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope.

Weymouth New Testament
Now, concerning those who from time to time pass away, we would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, lest you should mourn as others do who have no hope.

World English Bible
But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

Young's Literal Translation
And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, that ye may not sorrow, as also the rest who have not hope,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Return of the Lord
12Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone. 13 Brothers, 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. 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.…

Cross References
Acts 7:60
Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Romans 1:13
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

Ephesians 2:3
All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

Ephesians 2:12
remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

1 Thessalonians 4:14
For 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.

1 Thessalonians 4:15
By 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.

1 Thessalonians 5:6
So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober.


Treasury of Scripture

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

I would.

Romans 1:13
Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

1 Corinthians 10:1
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

1 Corinthians 12:1
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

which are.

1 Thessalonians 4:15
For 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.

1 Thessalonians 5:10
Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

1 Kings 1:21
Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.

ye sorrow.

Genesis 37:35
And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

Leviticus 19:28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

Deuteronomy 14:1,2
Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead…

which have.

Ephesians 2:12
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Job 19:25-27
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: …

Proverbs 14:32
The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.

Jump to Previous
Asleep Desire End Fall Fallen Grieve Grieved Hope Ignorant Mourn Others Rest Sleeping Sorrow Time Uninformed Want Wish
Jump to Next
Asleep Desire End Fall Fallen Grieve Grieved Hope Ignorant Mourn Others Rest Sleeping Sorrow Time Uninformed Want Wish
1 Thessalonians 4
1. He exhorts them to go forward in all manner of godliness;
6. to live holily and justly;
9. to love one another;
11. and quietly to follow their own business;
13. and last of all, to sorrow moderately for the dead.
17. followed by a brief description of the resurrection, and second coming of Christ to judgment.














(13) But.--We pass to the third clearly marked point: the share of the Christian dead in the Coming of Christ. Possibly an association of ideas may have caused St. Paul to join these two subjects, of quietude and the Advent, so closely (see Note on 1Thessalonians 4:11). "You need have no distress about your dead: when Christ comes, they will be there too; they will come with Him, and we shall be caught up to meet them."

I would not have you to be ignorant.--The right reading is we. St. Paul is still speaking in the name of his companions as well as his own. The phrase is very weighty, and marks how lamentable such a piece of ignorance would be. (See references in the margin.)

Which are asleep.--The best reading is rather, which fall asleep; the grief renewed itself over each successive death-bed. The image of sleep is a mere metaphor, drawn from the outward phenomena of death, and is used as an euphemism for death; therefore no doctrine can be deduced with precision from it. It cannot be said (for instance; on the strength of such passages alone, that only the body sleeps, and not the soul; or, again, that the soul sleeps while the body remains in the grave. That the soul, or at any rate the spirit, still retains consciousness after dissolution is clear from other places; but when the metaphor of sleep is used, it is used of the whole man (e.g., John 11:11, "Lazarus"--not" Lazarus' body"--"sleepeth"), the explanation being either that stated above--i.e., that the word is simply picturesque, describing the peaceful appearance of the dead--or that the reference is to rest from labour (Revelation 14:13). At the same time, the metaphor suggests (otherwise it would be misleading, and St. Paul would not have used it) a continued (even if partly unconscious) existence, and the possibility of a reawakening: Again, for the same reason--i.e., because the word is metaphorical, not doctrinal--it cannot be limited to the Christian dead: when the writers need to mark specially the departed Christians they annex qualifying words, as in 1Thessalonians 4:14. Of course, on the mention of "the dead," the Thessalonians will at once think of their own brethren departed, so that there is no ambiguity.

That ye sorrow not.--The words express St. Paul's object in wishing them to know the truth. He wants them not to sorrow at all over the dead; sorrow is only fit for Gentiles who have no hope. He does not mean that they are not to sorrow to the same degree as those outside the Church, but that to Christians, who have a hope, and such a hope, death ought to have no sorrows. The Office of Burial in the Prayer-book is as joyous as the Eucharistic Office itself. . . .

Verse 13. - With this verse the apostle proceeds to another subject, namely, to comfort those who were mourning the death of their friends. It would appear that the Thessalonians were in perplexity and distress concerning the fate of their deceased friends, fearing that these would miss those blessings which they expected Christ to confer at his advent. Their views of the time and nature of the advent and of the future state in general were confused. They expected that Christ would come immediately and establish his kingdom on earth; and consequently they feared that those who had died would be excluded from it. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren; a phrase often used by the apostle, when he makes a transition to new and important matters (comp. Romans 1:13; Romans 11:25; 1 Corinthians 10:1; 1 Corinthians 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:8). Concerning them which are asleep; or, are fallen asleep. The death of believers in the New Testament is frequently called "sleep." "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth" (John 11:11). Of Stephen it is said that "he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60). "Many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (1 Corinthians 11:30). "Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished" (1 Corinthians 15:18). "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (l Corinthians 15:51). "He fell asleep" is a common epitaph on early Christian tombstones. It is to be observed that it is not of the dead generally that the apostle speaks, but of the dead in Christ, and especially of those members of the Thessalonian Church who had died. That ye sorrow not. Some suppose that sorrow for our deceased friends is here utterly prohibited; inasmuch as if we had a firm belief in their blessedness we would rejoice and not mourn. But the sorrow here prohibited is a despairing and an unbelieving sorrow; we are forbidden to sorrow as those who have no hope, no belief in a blessed resurrection. The tears of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus have authorized and sanctified Christian sorrow. "Paul," observes Calvin, "lifts up the minds of believers to a consideration of the resurrection, lest they should indulge excessive grief on occasion of the death of their relatives, for it were unseemly that there should be no difference between them and unbelievers, who put no end or measure to their grief, for this reason, that in death they recognize nothing but destruction. Those that abuse this testimony so as to establish among Christians stoical indifference, that is, an iron hardness, will find nothing of this nature in Paul's words." Even as others; literally, as the rest; namely, the heathen. Which have no hope; no hope of immortality beyond death, or no hope of the resurrection. The heathen, with very few exceptions, had no hope of a future life, and hence they mourned over the death of their friends as an irreparable loss. This disconsolate feeling is apparent in their writings (for examples, see Lunemann, Alford, and Jowett, in loco).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Brothers,
ἀδελφοί (adelphoi)
Noun - Vocative Masculine Plural
Strong's 80: A brother, member of the same religious community, especially a fellow-Christian. A brother near or remote.

we do not want
θέλομεν (thelomen)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 2309: To will, wish, desire, be willing, intend, design.

you
ὑμᾶς (hymas)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

to be uninformed
ἀγνοεῖν (agnoein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 50: To do not know, be ignorant of, sometimes with the idea of willful ignorance.

about
περὶ (peri)
Preposition
Strong's 4012: From the base of peran; properly, through, i.e. Around; figuratively with respect to; used in various applications, of place, cause or time.

those who
τῶν (tōn)
Article - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

sleep [ in death ],
κοιμωμένων (koimōmenōn)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 2837: From keimai; to put to sleep, i.e. to slumber; figuratively, to decease.

so that
ἵνα (hina)
Conjunction
Strong's 2443: In order that, so that. Probably from the same as the former part of heautou; in order that.

you will not grieve
λυπῆσθε (lypēsthe)
Verb - Present Subjunctive Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 3076: To pain, grieve, vex. From lupe; to distress; reflexively or passively, to be sad.

like
καθὼς (kathōs)
Adverb
Strong's 2531: According to the manner in which, in the degree that, just as, as. From kata and hos; just as, that.

the
οἱ (hoi)
Article - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

rest,
λοιποὶ (loipoi)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3062: Left, left behind, the remainder, the rest, the others. Masculine plural of a derivative of leipo; remaining ones.

who
οἱ (hoi)
Article - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

are
ἔχοντες (echontes)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 2192: To have, hold, possess. Including an alternate form scheo skheh'-o; a primary verb; to hold.

without
μὴ (mē)
Adverb
Strong's 3361: Not, lest. A primary particle of qualified negation; not, lest; also (whereas ou expects an affirmative one) whether.

hope.
ἐλπίδα (elpida)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1680: Hope, expectation, trust, confidence. From a primary elpo; expectation or confidence.


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NT Letters: 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we don't want you to be (1 Thess. 1 Thes. 1Th iTh i Th)
1 Thessalonians 4:12
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