1 Thessalonians 4:17-18

4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, ¹  will be suddenly caught up ²  together ³  with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

¹ tc The words οἱ περιλειπόμενοι (Joi perileipomenoi, “[the ones] who are left”) are lacking in F G {0226^vid} ar b as well as a few fathers, but the rest of the textual tradition has the words. Most likely, the Western mss omitted the words because of perceived redundancy with οἱ ζῶντες (Joi zwnte", “[the ones] who are alive”).

² tn Or “snatched up.” The Greek verb ἁρπάζω implies that the action is quick or forceful, so the translation supplied the adverb “suddenly” to make this implicit notion clear.

³ tn Or “simultaneously,” but this meaning does not fit as well in the parallel in 5:10.