Chapter 4

1 Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is God’s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4 that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. 6 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. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. 9 Now on the topic of brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. 10 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, 11 to aspire to lead a quiet life, to attend to your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you. 12 In this way you will live a decent life before outsiders and not be in need. 13 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. 14 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. 15 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. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command,⁠ with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God,⁠ and the dead in Christ will rise first.⁠ 17 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.⁠ 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Pseudo Jonathan Exodus 20:15

New Testament · Targum

Summary

1 Thessalonians connects the resurrection of the dead with a trumpet. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan describes the trumpet at Sinai reviving the dead, linking the giving of the Torah with restored life.

Passages

1 Thessalonians 4:16

New Testament

13 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. 14 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. 15 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. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 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. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

41–51 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Thessalonians

Pseudo Jonathan Exodus 20:15

Targum

14 “Sons of Israel, My people, you must not crave what belongs to others or be companions or partners with those who do. No people who crave what belongs to others may be seen in the congregations of Israel, so that your sons in the next generation do not learn to join them. None of you may crave his neighbor’s house, and none of you may crave his neighbor’s wife, male servant, female servant, ox, donkey, or anything belonging to his neighbor, because through the guilt of craving others’ possessions the government attacks people’s property to seize it, and the wealthy become poor, and exile comes on the world.” 15 And all the people saw the thunder, how it changed in each person’s hearing as it came out from the lights, and the sound of the trumpet, how it revived the dead, and the mountain smoking. And all the people saw and drew back and stood twelve ancient miles away. 16 And they said to Moses, “Speak with us, and we can listen. But do not let us hear any more words from the Lord, so that we do not die.”

300–1200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pseudo Jonathan Exodus

References

"... Awareness of such divine remembrance is a foretaste of the “consolation(s)” people are to enjoy as a consequence of divine judgment (see Targum 2 Samuel 23:1; Targum Isaiah 8:2; 18:4; 40:1-2; Targum Jeremiah 12:5; 31:6, 26; Targum Hosea 6:2, with Luke 2:24-25; 6:24; Acts 4:36; Romans 15:5; 2 Corinthians 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Moreover, favorable judgment may be attributed to an angelic advocate, designated by the Greek term parakletos (so Targum Job 33:23 and John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1-2). In all this, God acts as sovereign, the king of the ages (see Targum Isaiah 6:5; 30:33 Targum Jeremiah 10:10; Targum Zechariah 14:16; as well as 1 Timothy 1:17; [Revelation 15:3]), who is able to raise the dead with the sound of a trumpet (see 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, and Exodus 20:18) ..."

Paul V. M. Flesher and Bruce D. Chilton, The Targums: A Critical Introduction, SAIS 12 (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011), 402.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

1 Thessalonians5 chapters

Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Pseudo Jonathan Exodus 20:15

Summary

Passages

1 Thessalonians 4:16

Pseudo Jonathan Exodus 20:15

References

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