1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

New King James Version

Plea for Purity

4 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus ^(A)that you should abound more and more, ^(B)just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; ²for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

³For this is ^(C)the will of God, ^(D)your sanctification: ^(E)that you should abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴^(F)that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵^(G)not in passion of lust, ^(H)like the Gentiles ^(I)who do not know God; ⁶that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord ^(J)is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. ⁷For God did not call us to uncleanness, ^(K)but in holiness. ⁸^(L)Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, ^(M)who^[a] has also given us His Holy Spirit.

A Brotherly and Orderly Life

⁹But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for ^(N)you yourselves are taught by God ^(O)to love one another; ¹⁰and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, ^(P)that you increase more and more; ¹¹that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, ^(Q)to mind your own business, and ^(R)to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, ¹²^(S)that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.