16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,(A) with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel(B) and with the trumpet call of God,(C) and the dead in Christ will rise first.(D) 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left(E) will be caught up together with them in the clouds(F) to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord(G) forever.

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16 For (A)the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with (B)the trumpet of God. (C)And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 (D)Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (E)in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus (F)we shall always be with the Lord.

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16 For the Lord (A)Himself (B)will descend from heaven with a [a](C)shout, with the voice of (D)the archangel and with the (E)trumpet of God, and (F)the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then (G)we who are alive, who remain, will be (H)caught up together with them (I)in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always (J)be with the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 Or cry of command

16 For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the [a]archangel and with the [blast of the] trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain [on the earth] will simultaneously be caught up (raptured) together with them [the resurrected ones] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord!(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 Only Michael is identified as an archangel (Dan 10:13; Jude 9).

15-18 And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.

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