“So be alert [give strict attention, be cautious and active in faith], for you do not know which day [whether near or far] your Lord is coming.

Therefore, be on the alert [be prepared and ready], for you do not know the day nor the hour [when the Son of Man will come].

Keep actively watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Therefore, be continually on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—

What I say to you I say to everyone, ‘Be on the alert [stay awake and be continually cautious]!’”

And, behold, a man was in Jerusalem, the name to him Simeon; and this man just and cautious, waiting the consolation of Israel : and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

and then he said, "ye men of Israel, be cautious how you proceed with regard to these men.

Now a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of [the goddess] Artemis (Diana), was bringing no small profit to the craftsmen.

So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

When they heard this they became extremely angry and shouted out, "Great is [the goddess] Artemis, of the Ephesians."

But when the crowd realized that he was a Jew, they all joined together for about two hours shouting, "Great is [the goddess] Artemis, of the Ephesians."

And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.

When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, Justice [the avenging goddess] has not permitted him to live.”

So then let us not sleep [in spiritual indifference] as the rest [of the world does], but let us keep wide awake [alert and cautious] and let us be sober [self-controlled, calm, and wise].

Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.