1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11
THE COMFORT OF CHRIST’S COMING
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.ap 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and roseaq again,ar in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.as 15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord:at We who are still alive at the Lord’s comingau will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.av 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,A,a with the archangel’sb voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christc will rise first. 17 Thend we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the cloudse to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourageB one another with these words.
5 About the times and the seasons:f Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lordg will come just like a thiefh in the night. 3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destructioni will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief.j 5 For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.k 6 So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlledl and put on the armorm of faith and love, and a helmetn of the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lordo Jesus Christ,p 10 who died for us,q so that whether we are awake or asleep,r we may live together with him.s 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.