Passage

1 Thessalonians 4.18

Book: 1 Thessalonians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17. then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, ASV)

WEB

16. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, 17. then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.

18. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, WEB)

KJV

16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. ^{comfort: or, exhort} (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, KJV)

YLT

16. because the Lord himself, in a shout, in the voice of a chief-messenger, and in the trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, 17. then we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in air, and so always with the Lord we shall be;

18. so, then, comfort ye one another in these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, writing with Silvanus and Timothy, who are named as co-senders (1 Thessalonians 1:1)
Audience: the church of the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:1), converts who "turned unto God from idols" (1:9)
Location: written from Corinth, after Timothy came back from Thessalonica with news of the church (1 Thessalonians 3:6; Acts 18:5)
Time period: c. AD 50-51, not long after the church was founded (1 Thessalonians 2:17; Acts 17:1-10)

Theological reading

"Wherefore comfort one another with these words." The teaching on the Lord's coming in 4:13-17 ends not with a timetable but with a command to console. The KJV margin gives "exhort" as an alternative for "comfort," and the verb is Strong's G3870, the same word used at the close of the next section: "Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up" (5:11).

"These words" are the specific promises just given: the dead in Christ rise first, the living join them, "and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (4:17). Comfort rests on content, not sentiment.

The command is mutual, "one another." The congregation is to do for each other at gravesides what Paul has done for them by letter.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G3056 - logos, logos, Strong's G3056

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Christology, via 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18
Church at Thessalonica, via 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18
Eschatology, via 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18
Rapture Timing Comparison, via 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.