Bible Gateway passage: 1 Thessalonians 4 - New International Version (2024)

Living to Please God

4As for other matters, brothers and sisters,^(A) we instructed you how to live^(B) in order to please God,^(C) as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ²For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³It is God’s will^(D) that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;^{(E) 4}that each of you should learn to control your own body^[a](F) in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵not in passionate lust^(G) like the pagans,^(H) who do not know God;^{(I) 6}and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.^[b](J) The Lord will punish^(K) all those who commit such sins,^(L) as we told you and warned you before. ⁷For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.^{(M) 8}Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.^(N)

⁹Now about your love for one another^(O) we do not need to write to you,^(P) for you yourselves have been taught by God^(Q) to love each other.^{(R) 10}And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia.^(S) Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,^{(T) 11}and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands,^(U) just as we told you, ¹²so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders^(V) and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Believers Who Have Died

¹³Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed^(W) about those who sleep in death,^(X) so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.^{(Y) 14}For we believe that Jesus died and rose again,^(Z) and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.^{(AA) 15}According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,^(AB) will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.^{(AC) 16}For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,^(AD) with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel^(AE) and with the trumpet call of God,^(AF) and the dead in Christ will rise first.^{(AG) 17}After that, we who are still alive and are left^(AH) will be caught up together with them in the clouds^(AI) to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord^(AJ) forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another^(AK) with these words.

Footnotes

1. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 Or learn to live with your own wife; or learn to acquire a wife
2. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.

Cross references

1. 1 Thessalonians 4:1 : 2Co 13:11; 2Th 3:1
2. 1 Thessalonians 4:1 : S Eph 4:1
3. 1 Thessalonians 4:1 : S 2Co 5:9
4. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 : S Eph 5:17
5. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 : S 1Co 6:18
6. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 : 1Co 7:2, 9
7. 1 Thessalonians 4:5 : Ro 1:26
8. 1 Thessalonians 4:5 : Eph 4:17
9. 1 Thessalonians 4:5 : S Gal 4:8
10. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 : Lev 25:17; 1Co 6:8
11. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 : Dt 32:35; Ps 94:1; Ro 2:5-11; 12:19; Heb 10:30, 31
12. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 : Heb 13:4
13. 1 Thessalonians 4:7 : Lev 11:44; 1Pe 1:15
14. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 : Eze 36:27; Ro 5:5; 2Co 1:22; Gal 4:6; 1Jn 3:24
15. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 : S Ro 12:10
16. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 : 1Th 5:1
17. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 : S Jn 6:45
18. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 : S Jn 13:34
19. 1 Thessalonians 4:10 : S Ac 16:9
20. 1 Thessalonians 4:10 : S 1Th 3:12
21. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 : Eph 4:28; 2Th 3:10-12
22. 1 Thessalonians 4:12 : S Mk 4:11
23. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 : S Ro 11:25
24. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 : S Mt 9:24
25. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 : Eph 2:12
26. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 : Ro 14:9; 1Co 15:3, 4; 2Co 5:15
27. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 : 1Co 15:18
28. 1 Thessalonians 4:15 : S 1Co 1:7
29. 1 Thessalonians 4:15 : 1Co 15:52
30. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 : S Mt 16:27
31. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 : Jude 9
32. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 : S Mt 24:31
33. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 : 1Co 15:23; 2Th 2:1; Rev 14:13
34. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 : 1Co 15:52
35. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 : Ac 1:9; S Ac 8:39; S Rev 1:7; 11:12
36. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 : S Jn 12:26
37. 1 Thessalonians 4:18 : 1Th 5:11