Passage

1 Thessalonians 5.16-18

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"14. And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all. 15. See that none render unto any one evil for evil; but always follow after that which is good, one toward another, and toward all."

"16. Rejoice always; 17. pray without ceasing; 18. in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward."

"19. Quench not the Spirit; 20. despise not prophesyings;" (1 Thessalonians 5:14-20, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"14. We exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient toward all. 15. See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good, for one another, and for all."

"16. Rejoice always. 17. Pray without ceasing. 18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you."

"19. Don’t quench the Spirit. 20. Don’t despise prophesies." (1 Thessalonians 5:14-20, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"14. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. ^{exhort: or, beseech} ^{unruly: or, disorderly} 15. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men."

"16. Rejoice evermore. 17. Pray without ceasing. 18. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

"19. Quench not the Spirit. 20. Despise not prophesyings." (1 Thessalonians 5:14-20, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"14. and we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the infirm, be patient unto all; 15. see no one evil for evil may render to any one, but always that which is good pursue ye, both to one another and to all;"

"16. always rejoice ye; 17. continually pray ye; 18. in every thing give thanks, for this [is] the will of God in Christ Jesus in regard to you."

"19. The Spirit quench not; 20. prophesyings despise not;" (1 Thessalonians 5:14-20, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Prayer

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.