Proverbs 6:9
in Proverbs 6How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
KJV
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
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This verse in Proverbs 6
Commentary
5 notes on this verseHow long, sluggard, will you sleep? etc. How long will you sleep in vices when you can rise to do well, you who, weighed down by noxious sloth, always say, "Let me still lie a little, and thus afterward I will rise by repenting"? For …
This site's exposition
observe its ways and become wise
on Proverbs 6:6-11
The slacker is sent to learn from the ant, which works “Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler” and stores food in summer. The threefold “a little” mimics the slacker's own excuses, and poverty then arrives unannounced, “like a robber, and need like a bandit”.
This site's exposition
How long will you lie there, O slacker?
The questions turn from the ant back to the slacker, who is still lying down. Gill pictures the ant at work gathering its provisions even by moonlight while the man stays in bed. His answer comes in verse 10.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?.... Or "lie" (q) in bed, indulging in sloth and ease; while the industrious ant is busy in getting in its provisions, even by moonlight, as naturalists (r) observe; when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? and be about thy lawful calling? doing the duties of religion, and the business of life; providing things honest in the sight of all men; things necessary for thyself and family, and wherewith to do good to others; exercising a conscience void of offence both to God and men.
When wilt thou think it time to arise? " Sluggards should be roused with a How long? This is applicable, (1.) To those that are slothful in the way of work and duty, in the duties of their particular calling as men or their general calling as Christians. " How long wilt thou waste thy time, and when wilt thou be a better husband of it?
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
a little folding of the hands The sleeper folds his hands, embrasser in French (abrasar in Provencal,) umfassen [in German], to embrace. In Rashi ms. plier in French [to fold] in German et was falten, to fold a little.
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. 5 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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| מָתַ֖י | matai | when? | H4970 → | 43 times |
| עָצֵ֥ל׀ | ʾatzel | O sluggard | H6102 → | 14 times |
| תִּשְׁכָּ֑ב | tishkav | will you lie down | H7901 → | 212 times |
| מָ֝תַ֗י | matai | when? | H4970 → | 43 times |
| תָּק֥וּם | takum | will you rise | H6965 → | 628 times |
| מִשְּׁנָתֶֽךָ׃ | mishenatekha | from sleep your | H8142 → | 23 times |
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
מָתַ֖יwhen?
mataiH4970 →43 times
עָצֵ֥ל׀O sluggard
ʾatzelH6102 →14 times
תִּשְׁכָּ֑בwill you lie down
tishkavH7901 →212 times
מָ֝תַ֗יwhen?
mataiH4970 →43 times
תָּק֥וּםwill you rise
takumH6965 →628 times
מִשְּׁנָתֶֽךָ׃from sleep your
mishenatekhaH8142 →23 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
Ephesians 5:14So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
- Romans 13:11–12
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…
- 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.
- Isaiah 60:1
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.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:5–8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
About Proverbs
This page draws on Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.