A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
Parallel Translations
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A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
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Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
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'Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep' —
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Proverbs 6:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 24:33-34 a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so your poverty will come as a robber and your want as an armed man.
- Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;
- Proverbs 23:33-34 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things. Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He expresseth lively the nature of the sluggards, which…
He expresseth lively the nature of the sluggards, which though they sleep never so long, yet have never enough, but ever seek occasions thereunto.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 6:10 [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber,…
Pro 6:10 [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
Ver. 10. Yet a little sleep.] Heb., Sleeps; so, slumbers. Though he speaks in the plural, and would have much, yet all is but a little in his pretence and conceit. He asks "a little," but he will not be denied: sed finite paululum ibit tu longum. {a} First, he must have "sleep"; having slept, he must have "slumbers," - sleep will not quickly be rubbed out of his eyes; having slumbered, he must "fold his hands." Compressis sedere manibus {b} to sit with hands folded up, is used by the Latins in a like sense. He tumbles on his bed, "as a door on the hinges." {Pro 16:14} A man must come with a lever to help him off his couch.
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{a} Augustine.
{b} Liv., lib. vii.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This he speaks in the person of the sluggard,…
This he speaks in the person of the sluggard, refusing to arise, and requiring more sleep, that so he might express the disposition and common practice of such persons.
Folding of the hands is the gesture of men composing themselves to sleep.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth,....…
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth,.... Either swiftly and suddenly, as a traveller makes haste to get to his journey's end, and comes upon his family or friends at an unawares; or though he moves gradually, by slow paces and silent steps, yet surely: and so it signifies that poverty should come upon the sluggard very quickly, and before he was aware: and though it might come by degrees, yet it would certainly come;
and thy want as an armed man; or, "thy wants as a man of shield" (u): denoting many wants that should come rushing in one upon another, like a man armed with shield and buckler; appearing with great terror and force, not to be resisted. It denotes the unavoidableness of being brought into penury and want by sloth, and the terribleness of such a condition. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, add,
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"but if thou art not slothful, thy harvest shall come as a fountain (as the inundation of a fountain, Arabic); but want shall flee as an evil racer (as an evil man, Arabic; far from thee, Vulgate Latin):''
but this is not in the Hebrew text.
(u) "tanquam vir clypei", Montanus; "vir clypeatus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber]…
Verse 10. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber] This, if not the language, is the feeling of the sluggard. The ant gathers its food in summer and in harvest, and sleeps in winter when it has no work to do. If the sluggard would work in the day, and sleep at night, it would be all proper. The ant yields him a lesson of reproach.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Yet a Little sleep, etc. Is this the answer…
Yet a Little sleep, etc. Is this the answer of the sluggard which the teacher takes up and repeats ironically, and in a tone of contempt? or is it the teacher"s own language describing how the sluggard slides on insensibly to ruin? The Vulgate favours the latter view, "Thou shalt sleep a little, thou shalt slumber a little, thou shalt fold thy hands to sleep, and then," etc. Habits, as Aristotle in his "Ethics" has shown, are the resultant of repeated acts, and habits entail consequences. So here the inspired teacher would have it learnt, from the example of the sluggard, that the self-indulgence which he craves leads on to a confirmed indolence, which in the end leaves him powerless. "Yet a little" is the phrase on the lips of every one who makes but a feeble resistance, and yields supinely to his darling vice.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:10-11 // 24:33-34 The result of laziness is poverty.…
6:10-11 // 24:33-34 The result of laziness is poverty. It will come suddenly and ruthlessly, like a bandit or an armed robber.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.