Plea for Purity

4 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus ^(A)that you should abound more and more, ^(B)just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; ² for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

³ For this is ^(C)the will of God, ^(D)your sanctification: ^(E)that you should abstain from sexual immorality; ^4 (F)that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ^5 (G)not in passion of lust, ^(H)like the Gentiles ^(I)who do not know God; ⁶ that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord ^(J)is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. ⁷ For God did not call us to uncleanness, ^(K)but in holiness. ^8 (L)Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, ^(M)who^[a] has also given us His Holy Spirit.

A Brotherly and Orderly Life

⁹ But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for ^(N)you yourselves are taught by God ^(O)to love one another; ¹⁰ and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, ^(P)that you increase more and more; ¹¹ that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, ^(Q)to mind your own business, and ^(R)to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, ^12 (S)that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

The Comfort of Christ’s Coming

¹³ But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen ^[b]asleep, lest you sorrow ^(T)as others ^(U)who have no hope. ¹⁴ For ^(V)if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him ^(W)those who ^[c]sleep in Jesus.

¹⁵ For this we say to you ^(X)by the word of the Lord, that ^(Y)we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are ^[d]asleep. ¹⁶ For ^(Z)the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with ^(AA)the trumpet of God. ^(AB)And the dead in Christ will rise first. ^17 (AC)Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them ^(AD)in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus ^(AE)we shall always be with the Lord. ^18 (AF)Therefore comfort one another with these words.