King James Version · Under Rome
1 Thessalonians 4
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Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by , that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please , so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what we gave you by . For this is the will of , even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his in sanctification and ; Not in the of concupiscence, even as the which know not : That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that is the of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto . He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but , who hath also given unto us his . But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all : but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no . For if we that and rose again, even so them also which sleep in will bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of , that we which are alive and unto the coming of shall not prevent them which are asleep. For himself shall descend from with a shout, with the voice of the , and with the trump of : and in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet in the air: and so shall we ever be with . Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.