Passage

1 Thessalonians 5.3

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. 2. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

3. When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: 5. for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5, ASV)

WEB

But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you. 2. For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.

3. For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.

But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. 5. You are all children of light, and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to darkness, (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5, WEB)

KJV

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

3. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

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

YLT

And concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need of my writing to you, 2. for yourselves have known thoroughly that the day of the Lord as a thief in the night doth so come,

3. for when they may say, Peace and surety, then sudden destruction doth stand by them, as the travail [doth] her who is with child, and they shall not escape;

and ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day may catch you as a thief; 5. all ye are sons of light, and sons of day; we are not of night, nor of darkness, (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, writing with Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy, who are named as co-senders in the opening (1 Thess 1:1).
Audience: The church in Thessalonica, capital of the Roman province of Macedonia; a largely Gentile congregation of recent converts (1 Thess 1:9) founded on the second missionary journey (Acts 17:1-9).
Location: Written from Corinth, shortly after Timothy returned with news of the young church (1 Thess 3:6).
Time period: c. AD 50-51. The Gallio inscription from Delphi fixes Paul in Corinth around AD 51-52 (Acts 18:12), which makes this letter either the earliest or one of the two earliest surviving Pauline writings, roughly twenty years after the crucifixion.

Theological reading

"When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape."

"They," not "you." The verse is in the third person, and verse 4 turns sharply: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness." Paul describes those outside the church, whose confidence the day of the Lord overturns. The warning is real, but it is not addressed to the readers as their expected fate.

"Peace and safety." The words echo the false prophets of Jeremiah's day, "saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14). It has also been suggested that the phrase mirrors Roman imperial claims to have brought peace and security; the parallel is possible, but the verse does not need it to make sense. In either case, the security people announce for themselves is the condition in which judgment arrives.

"As travail upon a woman with child." The image carries two ideas at once. The onset is sudden, and the outcome is certain once it has begun. The final clause makes the second explicit with a strong double negative (KJV "they shall not escape"): there is no way out once the day has come. The image does not teach a date; it teaches that the day will not be avoided.

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.

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Quoted in

Concepts:

Church at Thessalonica, via 1 Thessalonians 5.1-11

Notes

Your annotations.

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.