1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:10

New International Reader's Version

What Happens to Believers Who Have Died

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we want you to know what happens to those who die. We don’t want you to mourn, as other people do. They mourn because they don’t have any hope. ¹⁴ We believe that Jesus died and rose again. When he returns, many who believe in him will have died already. We believe that God will bring them back with Jesus. ¹⁵ This agrees with what the Lord has said. When the Lord comes, many of us will still be alive. We tell you that we will certainly not go up before those who have died. ¹⁶ The Lord himself will come down from heaven. We will hear a loud command. We will hear the voice of the leader of the angels. We will hear a blast from God’s trumpet. Many who believe in Christ will have died already. They will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them. We will be taken up in the clouds. We will meet the Lord in the air. And we will be with him forever. ¹⁸ So encourage one another with these words of comfort.

The Day of the Lord Is Coming

5 Brothers and sisters, we don’t have to write to you about times and dates. ² You know very well how the day of the Lord will come. It will come like a thief in the night. ³ People will be saying that everything is peaceful and safe. Then suddenly they will be destroyed. It will happen like birth pains coming on a pregnant woman. None of the people will escape.

⁴ Brothers and sisters, you are not in darkness. So that day should not surprise you as a thief would. ⁵ All of you are children of the light. You are children of the day. We don’t belong to the night. We don’t belong to the darkness. ⁶ So let us not be like the others. They are asleep. Instead, let us be wide awake and in full control of ourselves. ⁷ Those who sleep, sleep at night. Those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸ But we belong to the day. So let us control ourselves. Let us put on our chest the armor of faith and love. Let us put on the hope of salvation like a helmet. ⁹ God didn’t choose us to receive his anger. He chose us to receive salvation because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. ¹⁰ Jesus died for us. Some will be alive when he comes. Others will be dead. Either way, we will live together with him.