¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the ^[a]archangel and with the [blast of the] trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain [on the earth] will simultaneously be caught up (raptured) together with them [the resurrected ones] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord!^{(A) 18} Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words [concerning our reunion with believers who have died].