1 F urthermore 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.

Furthermore, brethren, we beg and admonish you in the Lord Jesus, that you learned from us about how you ought to walk so as to please and gratify God, as indeed you are doing, that you do so even more and more abundantly.

2 F or ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

For you know what charges and precepts we gave you '> on the authority and by the inspiration of] the Lord Jesus.

3 F or this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

For this is the will of God, that you should be consecrated (separated and set apart for pure and holy living): that you should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice,

4 T hat every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

That each one of you should know how to possess (control, manage) his own body in consecration (purity, separated from things profane) and honor,

5 N ot in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:

Not in the passion of lust like the heathen, who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of His will,

6 T hat 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.

That no man transgress and overreach his brother and defraud him in this matter or defraud his brother in business. For the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we have already warned you solemnly and told you plainly.

7 F or God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

For God has not called us to impurity but to consecration.

8 H e therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

Therefore whoever disregards (sets aside and rejects this) disregards not man but God, Whose Spirit He gives to you is holy (chaste, pure).

9 B ut as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

But concerning brotherly love, you have no need to have anyone write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

10 A nd indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

And indeed you already are to all the brethren throughout Macedonia. But we beseech and earnestly exhort you, brethren, that you excel more and more,

11 A nd that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

To make it your ambition and definitely endeavor to live quietly and peacefully, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you,

12 T hat ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

So that you may bear yourselves becomingly and be correct and honorable and command the respect of the outside world, being dependent on nobody and having need of nothing.

13 B ut 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.

Now also we would not have you ignorant, brethren, about those who fall asleep '> in death], that you may not grieve as the rest do who have no hope.

14 F or if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him through Jesus those who have fallen asleep '> in death].

15 F or 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.

For this we declare to you by the Lord’s word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep '> in death].

16 F or 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:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first.

17 T hen 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.

Then we, the living ones who remain, shall simultaneously be caught up along with in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord!

18 W herefore comfort one another with these words.

Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words.