Now on the topic of times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you.

For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

For you recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery: By working night and day so as not to impose a burden on any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.

For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep.

But although we suffered earlier and were mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of much opposition.

with such affection for you we were happy to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us severely. They are displeasing to God and are opposed to all people,

For how can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy we feel because of you before our God?

Now may God our Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.

In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, because the Lord is the avenger in all these cases, as we also told you earlier and warned you solemnly.

And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters in all of Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,

Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient toward all.

So when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

But examine all things; hold fast to what is good.

He who calls you is trustworthy, and he will in fact do this.