Bible Strands
Ephesians 5:14
So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Ephesian congregation, quoting a source outside his own voice (λὲγει, "it says," marks a citation, likely an early Christian hymn). It sits between his argument that light exposes everything (v. 13) and his command to walk wisely (v. 15).
The words — φανεροὺμενον (phaneroumenon) is a present participle: the light is in the ongoing act of making visible, not a single flash. φῶς (phōs) names the agent; light itself does the revealing.
The thread — Isaiah 60:1 ("Arise, shine") and Romans 13:11 ("wake up from your slumber") share the same wake-and-shine movement; Isaiah 26:19 adds the resurrection layer ("your dead will live… awake and sing").
Why it lands — The verse is an imperative, not a description: it demands the reader stop being asleep and rise from a state of death. The promise that Christ will shine on you is the consequence of that movement, not a substitute for it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
- Romans 13:11 And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
- Isaiah 26:19 Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:6 So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober.
- Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- John 5:25 Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
- Colossians 3:1 Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
- Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.
- John 9:5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”