¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,^(A) with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel^(B) and with the trumpet call of God,^(C) and the dead in Christ will rise first.^{(D) 17} After that, we who are still alive and are left^(E) will be caught up together with them in the clouds^(F) to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord^(G) forever.

Praise to God for a Living Hope

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!^(A) In his great mercy^(B) he has given us new birth^(C) into a living hope^(D) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,^{(E) 4} and into an inheritance^(F) that can never perish, spoil or fade.^(G) This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,^(H)

¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins,^(A) he sat down at the right hand of God,^(B)

¹⁰ then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,^(A) whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead,^(B) that this man stands before you healed.

⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people^(A) and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.^(B)

²⁹ When they had carried out all that was written about him,^(A) they took him down from the cross^(B) and laid him in a tomb.^(C)

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest^(A) who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are^(B)—yet he did not sin.^(C)

The Supremacy of the Son of God

¹⁵ The Son is the image^(A) of the invisible God,^(B) the firstborn^(C) over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created:^(D) things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;^(E) all things have been created through him and for him.^{(F) 17} He is before all things,^(G) and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head^(H) of the body, the church;^(I) he is the beginning and the firstborn^(J) from among the dead,^(K) so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased^(L) to have all his fullness^(M) dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile^(N) to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,^(O) by making peace^(P) through his blood,^(Q) shed on the cross.