| New King James Version | Berean Study 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; | 1Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more. |
| 2for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. | 2For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. |
| 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; | 3For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; |
| 4that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, | 4each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, |
| 5not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; | 5not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not 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. | 6and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. |
| 7For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. | 7For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. |
| 8Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. | 8Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One 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; | 9Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been 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; | 10And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and 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, | 11and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. |
| 12that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. | 12Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being 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. | 13Brothers, 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 if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. | 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. |
| 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. | 15By 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. |
| 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 loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. |
| 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. | 17After that, we who are alive and remain 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. |
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