1 Thessalonians 5:6 (ASV)

Passage

so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, 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 for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness;

1 Thessalonians 5:6 so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober.

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

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "for ye are all sons of light..." into verse 7's "For they that sleep sleep in the...", so "sleep" and "rest" 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 "sleep" and "rest" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.