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.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord^(A) from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit,^(B) “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”