Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
Parallel translations
- WEB so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.
- BSB So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober.
- NKJV Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
- NASB so then, let’s not sleep as others do, but let’s be alert and sober.
- NLT So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
So believers should not sleep spiritually but stay awake and self-controlled. Watchfulness and sobriety befit children of the day.
Overview
Because they belong to the light (v. 5), Paul exhorts them not to be spiritually asleep like the rest but to "watch and be sober." Watchfulness means living in alert readiness for the Lord's return; sobriety means clear-headed self-control. Christian identity calls for vigilance rather than complacency.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 37
- 1 Pet 1:13Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
- Matt 24:42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
- Luke 22:46And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
- 1 Pet 5:8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
- Rom 13:11–14And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
- Rev 16:15Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
- 1 Cor 16:13Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
- Eph 5:14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
- Rev 3:2Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
- Titus 2:12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
- Mark 13:34–35For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
- Prov 19:15Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
- 1 Pet 4:7But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
- Col 4:2Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
- Matt 25:5While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
- Jonah 1:6So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
- Luke 12:37Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
- Luke 12:39And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
- Isa 56:10His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
- Eph 6:18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
- Matt 13:25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
- Matt 25:13Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
- Luke 21:36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
- 1 Tim 2:9In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
- Mark 13:37And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
- Mark 14:37–38And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
- Matt 26:40–41And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
- 2 Tim 4:5But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
- 1 Tim 3:2A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
- Acts 20:31Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
- Titus 2:6Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
- Phil 4:5Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
- 1 Tim 3:11Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
- Matt 26:38Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
- 1 Th 5:8But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
- 1 Cor 15:34Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
- 1 Tim 2:15Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
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Christ at the center
The believer waits for God's Son from heaven, Jesus who delivers from the wrath to come and who will return to gather his people to himself.
How 1 Thessalonians 5:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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