1-2 Now, 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 conduct your lives in a way that pleases God. We taught you to do that, and you know that we did that as a result of what the Lord Jesus told us to say. We know that you are conducting your lives that way, but we strongly urge that you do that even more.

3 God 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). 4  That 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. 5 You must not lustfully desire to do immoral acts as unbelievers [MTY] do who do not obey God. 6  God 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. 7 When 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. 8 So I warn you that those who disregard this teaching of mine are not just disregarding a human being. On the contrary, they are disregarding God, because God commanded it. Remember that God sent his Spirit, who is holy, to live in you!

9  I 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, 10 and 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 increasingly love each other. 11  We urge you also to eagerly strive/try to attend to 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. 12 If 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.

13 My 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. 14 We believers know that it is true that Jesus died and that he rose to live again. So we also know well that God will cause those believers who died [EUP] to live again. We know that he will cause them to go to heaven (OR, come) with Jesus as a result of God's commanding them to arise and ◄ go to/come with► Jesus. 15  I 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! 16 It is the Lord Jesus himself who will descend from heaven. When he comes down, he will command all of us believers to rise. The chief angel will shout with a loud voice, 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. 17 After that, God will powerfully take up into the clouds all of us believers who are still living on this earth. At the same time, he will take up those 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. 18 Because all this is true, encourage/comfort each other by ◄sharing this teaching with each other/reminding each other of this teaching►.