New International Version

New Living Translation

Living to Please God

As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.

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Live to Please God

Finally, dear brothers and sisters,a we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.

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For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

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For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

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It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;

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God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.

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that each of you should learn to control your own bodya in a way that is holy and honorable,

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Then each of you will control his own bodyb and live in holiness and honor —

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not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;

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not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.

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and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.b The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.

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Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife,c for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before.

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For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

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God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.

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Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

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Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

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Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

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But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other,d for God himself has taught you to love one another.

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And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,

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Indeed, you already show your love for all the believerse throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.

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and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,

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Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.

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so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

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Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.

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Believers Who Have Died

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.

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The Hope of the Resurrection

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have diedf so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.

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For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

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For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

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According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

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We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.g

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For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

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For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have diedh will rise from their graves.

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After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

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Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

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Therefore encourage one another with these words.

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So encourage each other with these words.

Parallel

New International Version

New Living Translation

1 Thessalonians 4

1 Thessalonians 4