1 Tesalonika 4:13

The Lord Returns for Believers

4:13 Now we do not want you to be uninformed, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  about those who are asleep, ³  so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

1 Tesalonika 2:12

2:12 exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you live in a way worthy of God who calls you to his own kingdom and his glory.

1 Tesalonika 4:17

4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, ⁴  will be suddenly caught up ⁵  together ⁶  with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

[4:13]  ¹ tn Grk “ignorant.”

[4:13]  ² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.

[4:13]  ³ tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for death when speaking of believers. This metaphorical usage by its very nature emphasizes the hope of resurrection: Believers will one day “wake up” out of death. Here the term refers to death, but “sleep” was used in the translation to emphasize the metaphorical, rhetorical usage of the term. This word also occurs in vv. 14 and 15.

[4:17]  ⁴ 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”).

[4:17]  ⁵ 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.

[4:17]  ⁶ tn Or “simultaneously,” but this meaning does not fit as well in the parallel in 5:10.