₁₃Our brothers and sisters, we want you to know the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are those who have no hope. ₁₄We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in him.

₁₅What we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died. ₁₆There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice, the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first; ₁₇then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. ₁₈So then, encourage one another with these words.