1 Thessalonians 5:7
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:7 in other translations
| BSB | For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. |
|---|---|
| WEB | For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night. |
| ASV | For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. |
| YLT | for those sleeping, by night do sleep, and those making themselves drunk, by night are drunken, |
| DARBY | for they that sleep sleep by night, and they that drink drink by night; |
| BBE | For those who are sleeping do so in the night; and those who are the worse for drink are so in the night; |
| Webster | For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunken, are drunken in the night. |
What does 1 Thessalonians 5:7 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Barnes' Notes
And they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. The night is devoted by them to revelry and dissipation. It is in accordance with the usual custom in all lands and times, that the night is the usual season for riot and revelry. The leisure, the darkness, the security from observation, and the freedom from the usual toils and cares of life, have caused those hours usually to be selected for indulgence in intemperate eating and drinking. This was probably more particularly the case among the ancients than with us; and much as drunkenness abounded, it was much more rare to see a man intoxicated in the day-time than it is now. To be drunk then in the day-time was regarded as the greatest disgrace. See Polyb. Exc. Leg. 8, and Apul. viii., as quoted by Wetstein. Comp. Acts 2:15; Isa 5:11. The object of the apostle here is, to exhort Christians to be sober and temperate; and the meaning is, that it is as disgraceful for them to indulge in habits of revelry, as for a man to be drunk in the day-time. The propriety of this exhortation, addressed to Christians, is based on the fact that intoxication was hardly regarded as a crime; and, surrounded as they were with those who freely indulged in drinking to excess, they were then, as they are now, exposed to the danger of disgracing their religion. The actions of Christians ought always to be such that they may be performed in open day, and in the view. of all the world. Other men seek the cover of the night to perform their deeds; the Christian should do nothing which may not be done under the full blaze of day.
Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 5:6-11
Most of mankind do not consider the things of another world at all, because they are asleep; or they do not consider them aright, because they sleep and dream. Our moderation as to all earthly things should be known to all men. Shall Christians, who have the light of the blessed gospel shining in their faces, be careless about their souls, and unmindful of another world? We need the spiritual armour, or the three…
1 Thessalonians 5:7 in the original Greek
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Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).
Cross references for 1 Thessalonians 5:7
- Romans 13:13
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
- 2 Peter 2:13
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
- 1 Corinthians 15:34
Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
- Acts 2:15
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
- Daniel 5:4-5
They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
- Luke 21:34-35
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
- Isaiah 21:4-5
My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me. Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
- Ephesians 5:14
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
- Proverbs 23:29-35
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. …
- Job 33:15
In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
- Job 4:13
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
- 1 Samuel 25:36-37
And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Context
- 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.
1 Thessalonians 5:7 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | Porque los que duermen, de noche duermen; y los que están borrachos, de noche están borrachos. |
|---|---|
| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | car ceux qui dorment, dorment la nuit, et ceux qui s’enivrent, s’enivrent la nuit; |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | Denn die da schlafen, schlafen des Nachts, und die da trunken sind, sind des Nachts trunken. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Qui enim dormiunt, nocte dormiunt: et qui ebrii sunt, nocte ebrii sunt. |