1 Thessalonians 5:4

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, thatthat day should overtake you as a thief Properly, the day the great Day, the "day of the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 5:2); comp. the other elliptical phrase, "the wrath," of ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:16. At the same time, this word, while it looks back to 1 Thessalonians 5:2, suggests the wider, figurative sense of daythat comes out in 1 Thessalonians 5:5. Since the Thessalonians are "not in darkness," the coming of day will be no terror or surprise to them. The Day of the Lord will not "overtake them as a thief," stealing on them suddenly and despoiling them of their treasures unawares, but it will come to them as the welcome daybreak, full of light and joy. To the wicked and careless, by a sad contradiction, the Day of the Lord will be night! it is to them "darkness and not light, yea, very dark, and no brightness in it" (Amos 5:20). But for "the sons of light" (1 Thessalonians 5:5) it is day indeed, and wears its true character.

The marginof the R. V. contains the interesting reading, found "in some ancient authorities," preferred also by Westcott and Hort: overtake you as thieves! This gives a striking sense. It depicts the guilty as themselves "thieves," surprised by daylight. But it involves an abrupt change of metaphor, not sustained by the following context; it transforms the "thief" from the causeof the surprise (1 Thessalonians 5:2) into its object.