1 Thessalonians 5:6 (KJV)

Passage

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

Nearby Context

1 Thessalonians 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

1 Thessalonians 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

1 Thessalonians 5:7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But 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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "sleep", "others", "watch", and "sober". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "sleep", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "Ye are all the children of light..." into verse 7's "For they that sleep sleep in the...", so "therefore" and "sleep" belong inside that flow. In 1 Thessalonians context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "therefore" and "sleep" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.