1 Thessalonians 4

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Final y, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus; we instructed you how to live in theway that pleases God, and you are so living; but make more progress stil .	1 Therefore, concerning other things, brothers, we ask and beg you, in the Lord Jesus, that, just as you have received from us the way in which you ought to walk and to please God, so also may you walk, in order that you may abound all the more.
2 You are well aware of the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.	2 For you know what precepts I have given to you through the Lord Jesus.
3 God wil s you al to be holy. He wants you to keep away from sexual immorality,	3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from fornication,
4 and each one of you to know how to control his body in a way that is holy and honourable,	4 that each one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor,
5 not giving way to selfish lust like the nations who do not acknowledge God.	5 not in passions of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God,
6 He wants nobody at al ever to sin by taking advantage of a brother in these matters; the Lord alwayspays back sins of that sort, as we told you before emphatical y.	6 and that no one should overwhelm or circumvent his brother in business. For the Lord is the vindicator of all these things, just as we have preached and testified to you.
7 God cal ed us to be holy, not to be immoral;	7 For God has not called us to impurity, but to sanctification.
8 in other words, anyone who rejects this is rejecting not human authority, but God, who gives you hisHoly Spirit.	8 And so, whoever despises these teachings, does not despise man, but God, who has even provided his Holy Spirit within us.
9 As for brotherly love, there is no need to write to you about that, since you have yourselves learnt fromGod to love one another,	9 But concerning the charity of brotherhood, we have no need to write to you. For you yourselves have learned from God that you should love one another.
10 and in fact this is how you treat al the brothers throughout the whole of Macedonia. However, we dourge you, brothers, to go on making even greater progress	10 For indeed, you act in this way with all the brothers in all of Macedonia. But we petition you, brothers, so that you may abound all the more,
11 and to make a point of living quietly, attending to your own business and earning your living, just as wetold you to,	11 to choose work that allows you to be tranquil, and to carry out your business and to do your work with your own hands, just as we have instructed you,
12 so that you may earn the respect of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.	12 and to walk honestly with those who are outside, and to desire nothing belonging to another.
13 We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, to make sure that youdo not grieve for them, as others do who have no hope.	13 And we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are sleeping, so as not to be sorrowful, like these others who do not have hope.
14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that in the same way God wil bring with him thosewho have fallen asleep in Jesus.	14 For if we believe that Jesus has died and risen again, so also will God bring back with Jesus those who sleep in him.
15 We can tell you this from the Lord's own teaching, that we who are stil alive for the Lord's coming willnot have any advantage over those who have fallen asleep.	15 For we say this to you, in the Word of the Lord: that we who are alive, who remain until the return of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 At the signal given by the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, the Lord himself wil comedown from heaven; those who have died in Christ wil be the first to rise,	16 For the Lord himself, with a command and with the voice of an Archangel and with a trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven. And the dead, who are in Christ, shall rise up first.
17 and only after that shall we who remain alive be taken up in the clouds, together with them, to meetthe Lord in the air. This is the way we shall be with the Lord for ever.	17 Next, we who are alive, who are remaining, shall be taken up quickly together with them into the clouds to meet Christ in the air. And in this way, we shall be with the Lord always.
18 With such thoughts as these, then, you should encourage one another.	18 Therefore, console one another with these words.