⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees ^(A)gathered ^(B)the council and said, ^(C)“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and ^(D)the Romans will come and take away both our ^(E)place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, ^(F)Caiaphas, ^(G)who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that ^(H)it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but ^(I)being high priest that year ^(J)he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and ^(K)not for the nation only, but also ^(L)to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

²⁷ And then ^(A)he will send out the angels and ^(B)gather ^(C)his elect from ^(D)the four winds, from ^(E)the ends of the earth ^(F)to the ends of heaven.

The Coming of the Lord

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, ^(A)that you may not grieve as others do ^(B)who have no hope. ¹⁴ For ^(C)since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him ^(D)those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For this we declare to you ^(E)by a word from the Lord,^[a] that ^(F)we who are alive, who are left until ^(G)the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For ^(H)the Lord himself will descend ^(I)from heaven ^(J)with a cry of command, with the voice of ^(K)an archangel, and ^(L)with the sound of the trumpet of God. And ^(M)the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be ^(N)caught up together with them ^(O)in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so ^(P)we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Man of Lawlessness

2 Now concerning ^(A)the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our ^(B)being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,^[a]