Just like we told you previously, we strongly urge you to increasingly live in a way that will please God.

1Now, my fellow believers, I want to write about some other matters. Because we all have a close relationship with the Lord Jesus, we(exc) strongly urge you [DOU] to live in a way that pleases God. We taught you to do that, and you know that we lived that way as a result of what the Lord Jesus told us. We know that you are conducting your lives that way, but we strongly urge that you do that even more.

God wants you, by your behaving in a sexually pure way, to show that you completely belong to him.

3God wants you to live pure lives that will show that you completely belong to him. He wants you to avoid doing any sexually immoral acts (OR, avoid being sexually immoral in any way).

4That is, he wants each one of you to know how to control your own sexual desires [EUP]. He wants you to live pure lives that all people will see as good.

5You must not lustfully desire to do immoral acts as unbelievers [MTY] do who do not obey God.

6God wants each one of you to control your sexual desires, in order that no one of you sin against your fellow believer and take advantage of him or her by doing things like that. Remember that we strongly warned you previously [DOU] that the Lord Jesus will punish all people who do sexually immoral acts.

7When God chose us believers, he did not want us to be people who behave in a sexually immoral way. On the contrary, he wants us to be people who behave in a morally pure way.

8So I warn you that those who disregard this teaching of mine are not just disregarding me. On the contrary, they are disregarding God, because God commanded it. Remember that God sent his Spirit, who is holy, to live in you!

We urge you to increasingly love each other, to strive to work at your own occupations, and not meddle in others’ affairs.

9I want to urge you again that you should love your fellow believers [MET]. You do not really need that anyone write to you about that, because God has already taught you how to love each other,

10and because you already are showing that you love your fellow believers [HYP] who live in other places in your province of Macedonia. Nevertheless, my fellow believers, we urge you to love each other even more.

11We urge you also to eagerly strive/try to mind your own affairs and to not meddle/interfere with the affairs of others. We urge you also to work at your own occupations/jobs to earn what you need to live. Remember that we taught you previously to live like that.

12If you do these things, unbelievers will acknowledge/see that you behave decently/properly, and you will not have to depend on others to ◄supply/give to you► what you need.

God will cause to live again those believers who died and will bring them to the sky with Jesus. Encourage each other by telling this message.

13My fellow believers, we also want you to understand well [LIT] what will happen to our fellow believers who now are dead [EUP]. You must not be/do like the unbelievers. They grieve deeply for people who die because they do not confidently expect people to live again after they die.

14We believers know that it is true that Jesus died and that he came back to life again. So we also know well that when Jesus returns, God will cause those believers who died [EUP] to live again and to come with Jesus.

15I write this because the Lord Jesus revealed to me what I am now telling you. Some of you may think that when the Lord Jesus comes back, he will consider that we believers who are still living will be superior to those believers who have died [EUP], because we will meet Jesus first. That is certainly not true!

16It is the Lord Jesus himself who will descend from heaven. When he comes down, he will command all of us believers to rise from their graves. The chief angel will shout loudly, and another angel will blow a trumpet for God. Then (OR, As a result), the first thing that will happen is that the people who trusted in Christ before they died will live again.

17After that, God will powerfully take up into the clouds all of us believers who are still living on this earth. He will take us and those other believers who have died, in order that we all might together meet/welcome the Lord Jesus in the sky. As a result of that, we all will be with him forever.

18Because all this is true, encourage/comfort each other by reminding each other of this teaching.