Proverbs 20:13
in Proverbs 20Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
KJV
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
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This verse in Proverbs 20
Commentary
5 notes on this verseDo not love sleep, etc. Do not love the sleep of sin and slothfulness, about which the Apostle says, "It is high time to awake out of sleep" (Rom. XIII); lest, if you do not wish to be vigilant now, you be overtaken by that …
This site's exposition
Do not love sleep, or you
on Proverbs 20:13-15
The chapter warns against wasted hours, "Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor," and answers open eyes with "plenty of food." Against gold and rubies the chapter sets lips of knowledge as "a rare treasure," valuing speech that instructs above wealth that only buys.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty - Sleep, indescribable in its nature, is an indescribable blessing; but how often is it turned into a curse! It is like food; a certain measure of it restores and invigorates exhausted nature; more than that oppresses and destroys life. A lover of sleep is a paltry, insignificant character.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Open thine eyes - Be vigilant and active. That is the secret of prosperity.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The hearing ear and the seeing eye, etc. They are His handiwork, and He desires an ear that hears reproof and an eye that sees what will develop.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
“It is bad, it is bad,” says the buyer If one acquires Torah through poverty and the pains of hunger, he says, “Woe is to me for this evil and for this trouble,” but when he goes away full of wisdom.. then he boasts about the pain he suffered.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תֶּֽאֱהַ֣ב | teehav | you love | H157 → | 211 times |
| שֵׁ֭נָה | shenah | sleep | H8142 → | 23 times |
| פֶּן־ | pen- | lest | H6435 → | 133 times |
| תִּוָּרֵ֑שׁ | tivaresh | you should become impoverished | H3423 → | 231 times |
| פְּקַ֖ח | pekach | open | H6491 → | |
| עֵינֶ֣יךָ | ʾeineikha | eyes your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| שְֽׂבַֽע־ | seva'- | be satisfied | H7646 → | 97 times |
| לָֽחֶם׃ | lachem | food | H3899 → | 298 times |
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תֶּֽאֱהַ֣בyou love
teehavH157 →211 times
שֵׁ֭נָהsleep
shenahH8142 →23 times
פֶּן־lest
pen-H6435 →133 times
תִּוָּרֵ֑שׁyou should become impoverished
tivareshH3423 →231 times
פְּקַ֖חopen
pekachH6491 →
עֵינֶ֣יךָeyes your
ʾeineikhaH5869 →887 times
שְֽׂבַֽע־be satisfied
seva'-H7646 →97 times
לָֽחֶם׃food
lachemH3899 →298 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 13:11And 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.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 5:5–8
For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
- 1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.
- Ephesians 5:14
So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Mark 13:35–37
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the master of the house will return—whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning.
- 1 Corinthians 15:34
Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:5–8
Through
Romans 12:11Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
it leads to
- Proverbs 13:4
The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 6:10–11
For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.
- Acts 18:25
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
- Proverbs 13:4
Where this verse is studied
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.