Proverbs 24:33-34(vv9–10)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…
Psalms 94:8(v9)Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?
Proverbs 13:4(v11)The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.
Proverbs 10:4(v11)He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.
Proverbs 20:4(v11)The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
Show all 13 cross-references
Proverbs 24:34(v11)so your poverty will come as a robber and your want as an armed man.
Jeremiah 4:14(v9)Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you?
Ephesians 5:14(v9)Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Proverbs 1:22(v9)“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
Proverbs 6:6(v10)Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;
Romans 13:11(v9)Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first…
1 Thessalonians 5:2-7(v9)For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then…
Proverbs 23:33-34(v10)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…
13 distinct cross-references across this passage (14 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv10–11He 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 Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Pro 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?…
Pro 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Ver. 9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?] The ear, we say, is first up in a morning: call a sleeping man by his name, and he will sooner awake and answer to it than to anything else. The wise man therefore thus deals with the sluggard, that he may go forth and shake him, as Samson, not giving way to excessive sleep, which comes as a publican, saith Plutarch, and takes away a third part of our lives at least. Pliny {a} said to his nephew, when he saw him walk out some hours without studying, Poteras has horas non perdere, you might have put these hours to better uses. May not the same be said to the sleepy sluggard? While the crocodile sleeps with open mouth, the Indian rat shoots himself into his body, and eats up his entrails. While Ishbosheth slept upon his bed at noon, Baanah and Rechab took away his head. Epaminondas, a renowned captain, finding one of his sentinels asleep, thrust him through with his sword: and being chided for so great severity, replied, Talem eum reliqui qualem inveni, I left him but as I found him. It must be our care that death serve us not in like sort, that we be not taken napping, and so "killed with death." {Rev 2:23} The bird Onocrotalus is so well practised to expect the hawk to grapple with her, that even when she shutteth her eyes she sleepeth with her beak exalted, as if she would contend with her adversary, to teach us continual vigilance, resembling those who were wont to sleep with brazen balls in their hands, which falling on vessels purposely set on their bedsides, the noise did dissuade immoderate sleep, Nullus mihi per otium exit dies, partem etiam noctium studiis vindico, saith Seneca, {b} I let no day pass me idly, some part of the night also I spend in study. Our King Alfred, 872 AD, cast the natural day into three parts: eight hours he spent in prayer, study, and writing, eight in the service of his body, and eight in the affairs of his state; which space, having then no other divice for it, he measured by a great wax light divided into so many parts, receiving notice by the keeper thereof, as the several hours passed in the burning. {c} The Jews divided likewise the day into three parts, the first, ad Tephilla, for prayer; the second, ad Torah, for reading the law; the third, ad Malachah, for work; no talk of sleep. Their work would, likely, keep them waking. As for the law, what Servilius Scevola said of the civil law, holds more true of the divine, Ius civile scriptum est vigilantibus non dormitantibus, the law was not written for sleepers, but wakers. Jerome exhorted some godly women to whom he wrote, not to lay the Bible out of their hands, until being overcome with sleep, and not able any longer to hold up their heads, they bowed them down, as it were, to greet the leaves below them, with a kiss. {d} And for prayer, David would not fall asleep at it, but break his sleep for it. {Psa 119:62; Psa 119:147} He was at it at midnight, at day dawn, and "In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." {Psa 5:3} Two military words {e} he there makes use of, to shew his wakefulness at his work soldiers are not the greatest sleepers: Caesar was no less vigilant, than valiant: Scanderbeg from his first coming to Epirus never slept more than two hours in a night; - he would not only pray, but marshal up his prayers, put them in good array; and when he had so done, he would be as a spy upon a tower, to see whether he prevailed, whether he got the day. {f} The spouse slept, but her heart waked; and, as repenting of that half-sleep also, which yet the night and foul weather persuaded, she promiseth to get up early. {Son 5:2; Son 7:12} Our Saviour was up and at prayer "a great while before day." {Mar 1:35} The holy angels are styled "Watchers," Eγρηγοροι. {Dan 4:10} And they are three times pronounced happy that watch. {Luk 12:37-38; Luk 12:43} "Watch therefore."
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{a} Lib. iii. cap. 5.
{b} Sen., Epist.
{c} Daniel’s Chro. 13.
{d} Tenenti codicem somnus obrepat, et cadentem faciem pagina sacra suscipiat. - Hier, ad Eust.
{e} Egneroch, ex radice gnarach, ordinavit, aciem disposuit: sappel, ex radice tsaphah, speculando expectavit. Hinc tsopheh, speculator.
{f} Turk. Hist., fol. 297.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv9–11How long wilt thou sleep? when the ants are…
How long wilt thou sleep? when the ants are watchful and labour, not only in the day time, but even by night, when the moon shineth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,.... Or, "little…
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,.... Or, "little sleeps, little slumbers" (s). These are the words of the sluggard, in answer to the call of him to awake and arise, desiring he might not be disturbed, but be suffered to sleep on longer: there is a very beautiful climax or gradation in the words, aptly expressing the disposition and actions of a sluggard; he first desires a "few sleeps" more, some sound sleeps one after another; which is quite agreeable to his character: and if he cannot be allowed them, then he requests a "few slumbers" at least, some dozings, till he can get himself thoroughly awake; and if these cannot be granted, yet he prays however that this might be admitted,
a little folding of the hands to sleep; or, "to lie down" (t); a few tossings and tumblings upon the bed more, with his hands folded about his breast; a sleeping gesture, and the posture of sluggards. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "a little thou wilt embrace the breast with the hands"; and the Syriac version, "and a little thou wilt put thine hand upon thy breast". The Jewish commentators understand this as a direction and command to sleep and slumber but little, since a little sleep is sufficient for nature; or otherwise poverty will come, &c. but the former sense is best.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v11Travelleth - Swiftly and unexpectedly. Armed man - Irresistibly.
Travelleth - Swiftly and unexpectedly. Armed man - Irresistibly.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv10–11Verse 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.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v9Pro 6:9-11. How long, &c. — O the strange…
Pro 6:9-11. How long, &c. — O the strange idleness of mankind! who have so many monitors and governors, that call upon them again and again, to excite them to diligence, but in vain! Wilt thou sleep, O sluggard — When the ants are so watchful, and labour not only in the day-time, but even by night, when the moon shines. Yet a little sleep, &c. — 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. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth — Swiftly and unexpectedly; and thy wants as an armed man — Irresistibly.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v11The similitude is drawn from the two sources of…
The similitude is drawn from the two sources of Eastern terror: the “traveler,” i. e., “the thief in the night,” coming suddenly to plunder; the “armed man,” literally “the man of the shield,” the armed robber. The habit of indolence is more fatally destructive than these marauders.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn v11A traveller. Septuagint add, "wicked," and Hebrew gives the…
A traveller. Septuagint add, "wicked," and Hebrew gives the idea of a robber. (Menochius) --- But, &c. This is not in Hebrew, Complutensian, or St. Jerome. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv9, 11Their conduct graphically described;
Their conduct graphically described;
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn v99-11. How long wilt thou sleep — As in…
9-11. How long wilt thou sleep — As in Pro_6:6-8 the instructor had sought to incite his pupil to wise forethought and providence by the example of the ant, so here he seeks to guard him against the love of ease by the ruinous effects of slothfulness.
Sleep… slumber… folding of the hands — These three synonymes for sleep are not to be understood too literally and narrowly, as if this was the only way in which indolence is indulged; though it is one of the most common. The words are to be taken more broadly and generally, as applicable to all kinds of inactivity. Tropically, a man is said to be asleep when he is not awake or alive to his own interests. So the words are to be understood here, and the ordinary consequences are vividly exhibited.
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Shall thy poverty come — As a traveller. The word rendered poverty seems to imply that kind of poverty which comes by the loss of possessions, which loss is occasioned by the slothfulness sought to be guarded against. The word rendered one that travelleth is intensive, and is construed to mean a courier, runner, or swift messenger.
Armed man — Literally, man of the shield. There may be an allusion to the “messengers of death,” or executioners which were sent by Eastern monarchs to take off a man’s head, without note or warning, in his own house, or in the way, or wherever they met him. Comp. 1Ki_2:25; 1Ki_2:29; 1Ki_2:34; 1Ki_2:46.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn v1111. one that travelleth … an armed man] The…
11. one that travelleth … an armed man] The figure is two-fold. The doom of the sluggard travels swiftly and is inevitable. While he slumbers inertly, Poverty is coming on apace, drawing nearer to him every moment; and when it comes, it falls upon him like an armed man (Heb. “man with a shield”) from whom there is no escape.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn v11(11) As one that travelleth.—The form of the Hebrew…
(11) As one that travelleth.—The form of the Hebrew is intensive, “one who moves swiftly,” as in Psa_104:3, it is applied to God’s “moving upon the wings of the wind.” While the sluggard sleeps, poverty is coming on apace.
AS an armed man.—Against whom the sleeper will be defenceless. Pro_6:10-11 are repeated in Pro_24:33-34.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Vers. 9-11 contain a call to the sluggard to…
Vers. 9-11 contain a call to the sluggard to rouse himself from his lethargy, and the warning of the evil consequences if he remains heedless of the reproof. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? It is the same as if it were said, "What infatuation is this which makes you lie and sleep as if you had nothing else to do?" The double question stigmatizes the sluggard"s utter indolence, and suggests the picture of his prolonging his stay in bed long after every one else is abroad and about his business. How long (Hebrew, ad-matha; Vulgate, usquequo); literally, till when? When; Hebrew, matha; Vulgate, quando. The came words are used in the same order in introducing a question in Neh_2:6, "For how long will the journey be? and when wilt thou return?" Wilt thou... sleep. The Hebrew tish"kar is literally "wilt thou lie," but the verb easily passes to the secondary meaning of "to sleep." The delineation of the sluggard is again drawn in Pro_24:30-34 in almost identical language, but with some additions.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v9How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
Pro_6:9
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
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when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
The sleeper aroused
The various authors of Scripture are accurately acquainted with the human character. Among numerous defective habits and characteristics of our nature, which Solomon points out and condemns, is that of indolence; excessive fondness for ease and personal indulgence. The language of the text may be used in connection with the affairs of religion and of the soul.
I. The state which is deprecated. It is a state of sleep--a moral condition of which corporeal sleep furnishes the most apt representation.
1. Notice its moral characteristics. The state of sleep is a state of forgetfulness, a state of ignorance, and a state of insensibility. What man is to the material world in a state of corporeal sleep, that he is to the spiritual world when he is influenced by his original and his natural passions. The spiritual characteristics of mans condition, illustrated by the metaphor of the text, will be found to be borne out by the entire and uniform testimony of the Word of God. That testimony is, from the commencement to the close, a record of human depravity, operating in connection with forgetfulness, with ignorance, and with insensibility, and hence deriving, and hence preserving over the species its empire of corruption and of abominable foulness.
2. Notice its penal evils. Sleep is a state of privation and insecurity. The characteristics we have noticed are not involuntary, they are wilful. They are not unfortunate, they are guilty. They are heinous and flagrant transgressions against the law, and against the authority, of God. And hence it is, they expose the persons indulging them to a dispensation of displeasure and of wrath.
II. The change which is desired. There should be an awaking and arising out of sleep.
1. In what does this change consist? The spiritual awakening which is desired constitutes a condition precisely the reverse of that which already has been defined. It consists in s state in which man exchanges forgetfulness for remembrances, ignorance for illumination, and insensibility for sensitiveness and tenderness. Spiritual truth is now discerned, contemplated, believed, and felt; and it produces in the mind all the affections, and in the life all the habits, for which it was designed: repentance, prayerfulness, love to God, zeal for God, obedience to God, diligence in working out the salvation of the soul, and intense and constant aspirings after a state of salvation in the glory of another world. The penal evils, which formerly dwelt over the horizon of the spirit as with the darkness of midnight, are dispelled, and are made to disappear.
2. How is this change produced? There is one Agent, by whose power it must exclusively and efficaciously be performed--the agency of the Holy Spirit of God. The Divine Spirit is the one efficacious source of all that is holy and redeeming in the character and circumstances of man. But there are certain means, appointed by the authority of God, to be addressed by those who have been changed to those who have not, and in connection with them it is that the Spirit produces the desired and happy result. Illustration of the use of means is found in the parable of the valley of dry bones. The system of means exists with remarkable plenitude and sufficiency in the dispensation of the gospel.
III. The appeal which is enforced. The challenge implies that there ought to be no procrastination or delay in the change which is desired and pleaded for. Pleading with sinners, I would say--
1. Consider the protracted period of time during which you have indulged in slumber already.
2. Consider the increased difficulty of awakening the longer the slumber is indulged.
3. Consider the rapidly approaching termination of life, and arrival of judgment and eternity. (James Parson.)
Too much sleep
As waking idleness was condemned before, so sleepy idleness is condemned here. Sloth begets sleep.
I. God will call men to a reckoning for their time.
1. God gives us time as a talent in trust.
2. God looks for some good from men in their time.
II. Too much sleep is as bad as waking idleness.
1. Overmuch sleep is the fruit of idleness. Men that have much to do have little mind or time for sleep.
2. As little good is done in sleep as in waking idleness. Moderate your sleep. Too much sleep makes a man heavy and dull-witted. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
The danger of delaying repentance
We have the sluggards picture drawn in reference to his eternal concerns. He is one that puts off his great work from time to time. Here is something supposed. The sleeper convinced that he has slept and neglected his work. The sleeper convinced that he must awake and set to his work. The sleeper resolved to awake and mind his business. Something expressed. A delay craved. The quantity of this delay: it is but a little in the sluggards conceit. The mighty concern he is in for this delay. We have the fatal issue of the course. Delays are dangerous. Consider what ruin comes upon him; how this ruin comes upon him--swiftly, silently and surprisingly, irresistibly. This is all owing to the cursed love of ease. The delay and putting off repentance or salvation-work is a soul-ruining course among gospel-hearers.
I. Why is it that gospel-hearers delay and put off repentance?
1. Satan has a great hand in this. He is always urging either that it is too soon or else that it is too long a doing.
2. The cares and business of the world contribute much to this.
3. The predominant love of carnal ease.
4. The predominant love of sin.
5. A natural aversion and backwardness to holiness. When light is let into the mind, but the aversion still remains in the will, what can be expected but that the business of repentance, which they dare not absolutely refuse, will be delayed?
6. The hope of finding the work easier afterwards.
7. A large reckoning on the head of time that is to come.
8. A fond conceit of the easiness of salvation-work.
9. A conceit of sufficient ability in ourselves to turn ourselves from sin unto God.
II. This delaying is a soul-ruining course.
1. It is directly opposite to the gospel call, which is for to-day, not for tomorrow. All the calls of the gospel require present compliance.
2. It is threatened with ruin. And this threatening has been accomplished in many whom their slothful days have caused to perish.
3. Whenever grace touches the heart men see that it is so.
4. It has a native tendency to soul-ruin. The state of sin is a state of wrath, where ruin must needs compass a man about on every hand. The longer men continue in sin, spiritual death advanceth the more upon them. While they remain in this state there is but a step betwixt them and death, which you may be carried over by a delay of ever so short a time.
Use 1. For information: That delayers of repentance are self-destroyers, self-murderers. By delays the interest of hell is advanced. Satan is most busy to ply the engine of delays. They are sinners best friends that give them least rest in a sinful course.
Use 2. Of lamentation: Thou knowest not the worth of a precious soul, which thou are throwing away for what will not profit. Thou knowest not the excellency of the precious Christ. Thou knowest not the worth of precious time. Thou knowest not the weight of the wrath of God. Thou dost not observe what speed thy ruin is making while thou liest at ease. Thou dost not observe how near thy destruction may be. Thou dost not observe how utterly unable thou art to ward off the blow when it comes.
Use 3. Of reproof to delayers of salvation-work: To delaying saints. A delay of righting their case when matters are wrong, by receiving their repentance and the actings of faith. The delaying to give up some bosom-idol that mars their communion with God. The delaying to clear their state before the Lord. The delaying of some particular duty, or piece of generation-work, which they are convinced God calls them to. The delaying of actual preparation for eternity. To delaying sinners: Is the debt of sin so small upon thy head that thou must run thyself deeper in the debt of Gods justice? Is not the holy law binding on thee? Who has assured thee that ever thou shalt see the age thou speakest of? Who has the best right to thy youth and strength? Ye middle-age people, why do ye delay repentance? I exhort you all to delay repentance and salvation-work no longer. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v9How long will you sleep ... When will you…
How long will you sleep ... When will you rise from your sleep?
The teacher uses these questions to scold the lazy person for sleeping too much. AT: "Wake up, you lazy person! Get out of your bed!" (See: Parallelism and Rhetorical Question)
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A little sleep ... of the hands to rest
These are the kinds of things that lazy people say.
A little sleep, a little slumber
Both of these statements mean the same thing. They can be stated as complete sentences. AT: "I will just sleep a little longer. Let me sleep lightly a little longer" (See: Parallelism and Ellipsis)
folding of the hands to rest
People often fold their hands while reclining in order to rest more comfortably. AT: "I will just cross my arms comfortably and rest a little" (See: Metonymy)
and your poverty will come
This can be stated as a new sentence to make clear that this is a result of being lazy. AT: "If you continue to be lazy, your poverty will come" or "While you sleep, poverty will come" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
your poverty will come like a robber
The sudden way a lazy person becomes poor is like the sudden way a robber comes and steals things. AT: "you will suddenly become poor, just as if a robber came and stole everything you have" (See: Simile)
and your needs like an armed soldier
The sudden way a lazy person becomes in need of things is like the sudden way an armed soldier takes things from a person. This can be stated as a complete sentence. AT: "and your needs will come to you like an armed soldier" or "and you will become needy just as if an armed soldier stole all your things" (See: Simile and Ellipsis)
an armed soldier
"a soldier who is holding a weapon" or "a man with a weapon"
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10–11 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 On vv9–11 Pro 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?…
Pro 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Ver. 9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?] The ear, we say, is first up in a morning: call a sleeping man by his name, and he will sooner awake and answer to it than to anything else. The wise man therefore thus deals with the sluggard, that he may go forth and shake him, as Samson, not giving way to excessive sleep, which comes as a publican, saith Plutarch, and takes away a third part of our lives at least. Pliny {a} said to his nephew, when he saw him walk out some hours without studying, Poteras has horas non perdere, you might have put these hours to better uses. May not the same be said to the sleepy sluggard? While the crocodile sleeps with open mouth, the Indian rat shoots himself into his body, and eats up his entrails. While Ishbosheth slept upon his bed at noon, Baanah and Rechab took away his head. Epaminondas, a renowned captain, finding one of his sentinels asleep, thrust him through with his sword: and being chided for so great severity, replied, Talem eum reliqui qualem inveni, I left him but as I found him. It must be our care that death serve us not in like sort, that we be not taken napping, and so "killed with death." {Rev 2:23} The bird Onocrotalus is so well practised to expect the hawk to grapple with her, that even when she shutteth her eyes she sleepeth with her beak exalted, as if she would contend with her adversary, to teach us continual vigilance, resembling those who were wont to sleep with brazen balls in their hands, which falling on vessels purposely set on their bedsides, the noise did dissuade immoderate sleep, Nullus mihi per otium exit dies, partem etiam noctium studiis vindico, saith Seneca, {b} I let no day pass me idly, some part of the night also I spend in study. Our King Alfred, 872 AD, cast the natural day into three parts: eight hours he spent in prayer, study, and writing, eight in the service of his body, and eight in the affairs of his state; which space, having then no other divice for it, he measured by a great wax light divided into so many parts, receiving notice by the keeper thereof, as the several hours passed in the burning. {c} The Jews divided likewise the day into three parts, the first, ad Tephilla, for prayer; the second, ad Torah, for reading the law; the third, ad Malachah, for work; no talk of sleep. Their work would, likely, keep them waking. As for the law, what Servilius Scevola said of the civil law, holds more true of the divine, Ius civile scriptum est vigilantibus non dormitantibus, the law was not written for sleepers, but wakers. Jerome exhorted some godly women to whom he wrote, not to lay the Bible out of their hands, until being overcome with sleep, and not able any longer to hold up their heads, they bowed them down, as it were, to greet the leaves below them, with a kiss. {d} And for prayer, David would not fall asleep at it, but break his sleep for it. {Psa 119:62; Psa 119:147} He was at it at midnight, at day dawn, and "In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." {Psa 5:3} Two military words {e} he there makes use of, to shew his wakefulness at his work soldiers are not the greatest sleepers: Caesar was no less vigilant, than valiant: Scanderbeg from his first coming to Epirus never slept more than two hours in a night; - he would not only pray, but marshal up his prayers, put them in good array; and when he had so done, he would be as a spy upon a tower, to see whether he prevailed, whether he got the day. {f} The spouse slept, but her heart waked; and, as repenting of that half-sleep also, which yet the night and foul weather persuaded, she promiseth to get up early. {Son 5:2; Son 7:12} Our Saviour was up and at prayer "a great while before day." {Mar 1:35} The holy angels are styled "Watchers," Eγρηγοροι. {Dan 4:10} And they are three times pronounced happy that watch. {Luk 12:37-38; Luk 12:43} "Watch therefore."
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{a} Lib. iii. cap. 5.
{b} Sen., Epist.
{c} Daniel’s Chro. 13.
{d} Tenenti codicem somnus obrepat, et cadentem faciem pagina sacra suscipiat. - Hier, ad Eust.
{e} Egneroch, ex radice gnarach, ordinavit, aciem disposuit: sappel, ex radice tsaphah, speculando expectavit. Hinc tsopheh, speculator.
{f} Turk. Hist., fol. 297.
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 On vv9–11 How long wilt thou sleep? when the ants are…
How long wilt thou sleep? when the ants are watchful and labour, not only in the day time, but even by night, when the moon shineth.
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 On vv9–11 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,.... Or, "little…
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,.... Or, "little sleeps, little slumbers" (s). These are the words of the sluggard, in answer to the call of him to awake and arise, desiring he might not be disturbed, but be suffered to sleep on longer: there is a very beautiful climax or gradation in the words, aptly expressing the disposition and actions of a sluggard; he first desires a "few sleeps" more, some sound sleeps one after another; which is quite agreeable to his character: and if he cannot be allowed them, then he requests a "few slumbers" at least, some dozings, till he can get himself thoroughly awake; and if these cannot be granted, yet he prays however that this might be admitted,
a little folding of the hands to sleep; or, "to lie down" (t); a few tossings and tumblings upon the bed more, with his hands folded about his breast; a sleeping gesture, and the posture of sluggards. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "a little thou wilt embrace the breast with the hands"; and the Syriac version, "and a little thou wilt put thine hand upon thy breast". The Jewish commentators understand this as a direction and command to sleep and slumber but little, since a little sleep is sufficient for nature; or otherwise poverty will come, &c. but the former sense is best.
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(s) "parvis somnis, parvis dormitationibus", Pagninus; "pauculis somnis, pauculis dormitationibus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (t) "cubando", Junius & Tremellius; "cubare", Piscator; "ad cubandum", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v11 Travelleth - Swiftly and unexpectedly. Armed man - Irresistibly.
Travelleth - Swiftly and unexpectedly. Armed man - Irresistibly.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–11 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.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v9 Pro 6:9-11. How long, &c. — O the strange…
Pro 6:9-11. How long, &c. — O the strange idleness of mankind! who have so many monitors and governors, that call upon them again and again, to excite them to diligence, but in vain! Wilt thou sleep, O sluggard — When the ants are so watchful, and labour not only in the day-time, but even by night, when the moon shines. Yet a little sleep, &c. — 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. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth — Swiftly and unexpectedly; and thy wants as an armed man — Irresistibly.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v11 The similitude is drawn from the two sources of…
The similitude is drawn from the two sources of Eastern terror: the “traveler,” i. e., “the thief in the night,” coming suddenly to plunder; the “armed man,” literally “the man of the shield,” the armed robber. The habit of indolence is more fatally destructive than these marauders.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v11 A traveller. Septuagint add, "wicked," and Hebrew gives the…
A traveller. Septuagint add, "wicked," and Hebrew gives the idea of a robber. (Menochius) --- But, &c. This is not in Hebrew, Complutensian, or St. Jerome. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 Their conduct graphically described;
Their conduct graphically described;
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v9 9-11. How long wilt thou sleep — As in…
9-11. How long wilt thou sleep — As in Pro_6:6-8 the instructor had sought to incite his pupil to wise forethought and providence by the example of the ant, so here he seeks to guard him against the love of ease by the ruinous effects of slothfulness.
Sleep… slumber… folding of the hands — These three synonymes for sleep are not to be understood too literally and narrowly, as if this was the only way in which indolence is indulged; though it is one of the most common. The words are to be taken more broadly and generally, as applicable to all kinds of inactivity. Tropically, a man is said to be asleep when he is not awake or alive to his own interests. So the words are to be understood here, and the ordinary consequences are vividly exhibited.
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Shall thy poverty come — As a traveller. The word rendered poverty seems to imply that kind of poverty which comes by the loss of possessions, which loss is occasioned by the slothfulness sought to be guarded against. The word rendered one that travelleth is intensive, and is construed to mean a courier, runner, or swift messenger.
Armed man — Literally, man of the shield. There may be an allusion to the “messengers of death,” or executioners which were sent by Eastern monarchs to take off a man’s head, without note or warning, in his own house, or in the way, or wherever they met him. Comp. 1Ki_2:25; 1Ki_2:29; 1Ki_2:34; 1Ki_2:46.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v11 11. one that travelleth … an armed man] The…
11. one that travelleth … an armed man] The figure is two-fold. The doom of the sluggard travels swiftly and is inevitable. While he slumbers inertly, Poverty is coming on apace, drawing nearer to him every moment; and when it comes, it falls upon him like an armed man (Heb. “man with a shield”) from whom there is no escape.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v11 (11) As one that travelleth.—The form of the Hebrew…
(11) As one that travelleth.—The form of the Hebrew is intensive, “one who moves swiftly,” as in Psa_104:3, it is applied to God’s “moving upon the wings of the wind.” While the sluggard sleeps, poverty is coming on apace.
AS an armed man.—Against whom the sleeper will be defenceless. Pro_6:10-11 are repeated in Pro_24:33-34.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9–11 Vers. 9-11 contain a call to the sluggard to…
Vers. 9-11 contain a call to the sluggard to rouse himself from his lethargy, and the warning of the evil consequences if he remains heedless of the reproof. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? It is the same as if it were said, "What infatuation is this which makes you lie and sleep as if you had nothing else to do?" The double question stigmatizes the sluggard"s utter indolence, and suggests the picture of his prolonging his stay in bed long after every one else is abroad and about his business. How long (Hebrew, ad-matha; Vulgate, usquequo); literally, till when? When; Hebrew, matha; Vulgate, quando. The came words are used in the same order in introducing a question in Neh_2:6, "For how long will the journey be? and when wilt thou return?" Wilt thou... sleep. The Hebrew tish"kar is literally "wilt thou lie," but the verb easily passes to the secondary meaning of "to sleep." The delineation of the sluggard is again drawn in Pro_24:30-34 in almost identical language, but with some additions.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
Pro_6:9
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
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when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
The sleeper aroused
The various authors of Scripture are accurately acquainted with the human character. Among numerous defective habits and characteristics of our nature, which Solomon points out and condemns, is that of indolence; excessive fondness for ease and personal indulgence. The language of the text may be used in connection with the affairs of religion and of the soul.
I. The state which is deprecated. It is a state of sleep--a moral condition of which corporeal sleep furnishes the most apt representation.
1. Notice its moral characteristics. The state of sleep is a state of forgetfulness, a state of ignorance, and a state of insensibility. What man is to the material world in a state of corporeal sleep, that he is to the spiritual world when he is influenced by his original and his natural passions. The spiritual characteristics of mans condition, illustrated by the metaphor of the text, will be found to be borne out by the entire and uniform testimony of the Word of God. That testimony is, from the commencement to the close, a record of human depravity, operating in connection with forgetfulness, with ignorance, and with insensibility, and hence deriving, and hence preserving over the species its empire of corruption and of abominable foulness.
2. Notice its penal evils. Sleep is a state of privation and insecurity. The characteristics we have noticed are not involuntary, they are wilful. They are not unfortunate, they are guilty. They are heinous and flagrant transgressions against the law, and against the authority, of God. And hence it is, they expose the persons indulging them to a dispensation of displeasure and of wrath.
II. The change which is desired. There should be an awaking and arising out of sleep.
1. In what does this change consist? The spiritual awakening which is desired constitutes a condition precisely the reverse of that which already has been defined. It consists in s state in which man exchanges forgetfulness for remembrances, ignorance for illumination, and insensibility for sensitiveness and tenderness. Spiritual truth is now discerned, contemplated, believed, and felt; and it produces in the mind all the affections, and in the life all the habits, for which it was designed: repentance, prayerfulness, love to God, zeal for God, obedience to God, diligence in working out the salvation of the soul, and intense and constant aspirings after a state of salvation in the glory of another world. The penal evils, which formerly dwelt over the horizon of the spirit as with the darkness of midnight, are dispelled, and are made to disappear.
2. How is this change produced? There is one Agent, by whose power it must exclusively and efficaciously be performed--the agency of the Holy Spirit of God. The Divine Spirit is the one efficacious source of all that is holy and redeeming in the character and circumstances of man. But there are certain means, appointed by the authority of God, to be addressed by those who have been changed to those who have not, and in connection with them it is that the Spirit produces the desired and happy result. Illustration of the use of means is found in the parable of the valley of dry bones. The system of means exists with remarkable plenitude and sufficiency in the dispensation of the gospel.
III. The appeal which is enforced. The challenge implies that there ought to be no procrastination or delay in the change which is desired and pleaded for. Pleading with sinners, I would say--
1. Consider the protracted period of time during which you have indulged in slumber already.
2. Consider the increased difficulty of awakening the longer the slumber is indulged.
3. Consider the rapidly approaching termination of life, and arrival of judgment and eternity. (James Parson.)
Too much sleep
As waking idleness was condemned before, so sleepy idleness is condemned here. Sloth begets sleep.
I. God will call men to a reckoning for their time.
1. God gives us time as a talent in trust.
2. God looks for some good from men in their time.
II. Too much sleep is as bad as waking idleness.
1. Overmuch sleep is the fruit of idleness. Men that have much to do have little mind or time for sleep.
2. As little good is done in sleep as in waking idleness. Moderate your sleep. Too much sleep makes a man heavy and dull-witted. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
The danger of delaying repentance
We have the sluggards picture drawn in reference to his eternal concerns. He is one that puts off his great work from time to time. Here is something supposed. The sleeper convinced that he has slept and neglected his work. The sleeper convinced that he must awake and set to his work. The sleeper resolved to awake and mind his business. Something expressed. A delay craved. The quantity of this delay: it is but a little in the sluggards conceit. The mighty concern he is in for this delay. We have the fatal issue of the course. Delays are dangerous. Consider what ruin comes upon him; how this ruin comes upon him--swiftly, silently and surprisingly, irresistibly. This is all owing to the cursed love of ease. The delay and putting off repentance or salvation-work is a soul-ruining course among gospel-hearers.
I. Why is it that gospel-hearers delay and put off repentance?
1. Satan has a great hand in this. He is always urging either that it is too soon or else that it is too long a doing.
2. The cares and business of the world contribute much to this.
3. The predominant love of carnal ease.
4. The predominant love of sin.
5. A natural aversion and backwardness to holiness. When light is let into the mind, but the aversion still remains in the will, what can be expected but that the business of repentance, which they dare not absolutely refuse, will be delayed?
6. The hope of finding the work easier afterwards.
7. A large reckoning on the head of time that is to come.
8. A fond conceit of the easiness of salvation-work.
9. A conceit of sufficient ability in ourselves to turn ourselves from sin unto God.
II. This delaying is a soul-ruining course.
1. It is directly opposite to the gospel call, which is for to-day, not for tomorrow. All the calls of the gospel require present compliance.
2. It is threatened with ruin. And this threatening has been accomplished in many whom their slothful days have caused to perish.
3. Whenever grace touches the heart men see that it is so.
4. It has a native tendency to soul-ruin. The state of sin is a state of wrath, where ruin must needs compass a man about on every hand. The longer men continue in sin, spiritual death advanceth the more upon them. While they remain in this state there is but a step betwixt them and death, which you may be carried over by a delay of ever so short a time.
Use 1. For information: That delayers of repentance are self-destroyers, self-murderers. By delays the interest of hell is advanced. Satan is most busy to ply the engine of delays. They are sinners best friends that give them least rest in a sinful course.
Use 2. Of lamentation: Thou knowest not the worth of a precious soul, which thou are throwing away for what will not profit. Thou knowest not the excellency of the precious Christ. Thou knowest not the worth of precious time. Thou knowest not the weight of the wrath of God. Thou dost not observe what speed thy ruin is making while thou liest at ease. Thou dost not observe how near thy destruction may be. Thou dost not observe how utterly unable thou art to ward off the blow when it comes.
Use 3. Of reproof to delayers of salvation-work: To delaying saints. A delay of righting their case when matters are wrong, by receiving their repentance and the actings of faith. The delaying to give up some bosom-idol that mars their communion with God. The delaying to clear their state before the Lord. The delaying of some particular duty, or piece of generation-work, which they are convinced God calls them to. The delaying of actual preparation for eternity. To delaying sinners: Is the debt of sin so small upon thy head that thou must run thyself deeper in the debt of Gods justice? Is not the holy law binding on thee? Who has assured thee that ever thou shalt see the age thou speakest of? Who has the best right to thy youth and strength? Ye middle-age people, why do ye delay repentance? I exhort you all to delay repentance and salvation-work no longer. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v9 How long will you sleep ... When will you…
How long will you sleep ... When will you rise from your sleep?
The teacher uses these questions to scold the lazy person for sleeping too much. AT: "Wake up, you lazy person! Get out of your bed!" (See: Parallelism and Rhetorical Question)
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A little sleep ... of the hands to rest
These are the kinds of things that lazy people say.
A little sleep, a little slumber
Both of these statements mean the same thing. They can be stated as complete sentences. AT: "I will just sleep a little longer. Let me sleep lightly a little longer" (See: Parallelism and Ellipsis)
folding of the hands to rest
People often fold their hands while reclining in order to rest more comfortably. AT: "I will just cross my arms comfortably and rest a little" (See: Metonymy)
and your poverty will come
This can be stated as a new sentence to make clear that this is a result of being lazy. AT: "If you continue to be lazy, your poverty will come" or "While you sleep, poverty will come" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
your poverty will come like a robber
The sudden way a lazy person becomes poor is like the sudden way a robber comes and steals things. AT: "you will suddenly become poor, just as if a robber came and stole everything you have" (See: Simile)
and your needs like an armed soldier
The sudden way a lazy person becomes in need of things is like the sudden way an armed soldier takes things from a person. This can be stated as a complete sentence. AT: "and your needs will come to you like an armed soldier" or "and you will become needy just as if an armed soldier stole all your things" (See: Simile and Ellipsis)
an armed soldier
"a soldier who is holding a weapon" or "a man with a weapon"
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v10 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.