⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. ^(A)We shall not all sleep, ^(B)but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For ^(C)the trumpet will sound, and ^(D)the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and ^(E)this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

¹⁵ For this we declare to you ^(A)by a word from the Lord,^[a] that ^(B)we who are alive, who are left until ^(C)the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For ^(D)the Lord himself will descend ^(E)from heaven ^(F)with a cry of command, with the voice of ^(G)an archangel, and ^(H)with the sound of the trumpet of God. And ^(I)the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be ^(J)caught up together with them ^(K)in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so ^(L)we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.