Proverbs 20:13

Pro 20:13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, [and] thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

Ver. 13. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty.] In sleep there is no use either of sight or hearing, or any other sense. And as little is there of the spiritual senses in the sleep of sin. It fared with the good prophet {Zec 4:1} as with a drowsy person, who though awake and set to work, yet was ready to sleep at it; and Peter, James, and John, if the spirit hold not up their eyes, may be in danger to fall asleep at their prayers, {Mat 26:37-45} and so fall into spiritual poverty: for if prayer stands still, the whole trade of godliness stands still. And a powerless prayer, proceeding from a spirit of sloth, joined with presumption, makes the best men liable to punishment for profaning God’s name, so that he may justly let them fall into some sin, which shall awaken them with smart enough. {Pro 19:15} {See Trapp on "Pro 19:15"}

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.

Pro 20:13. Love not sleep — That is, immoderate sleep, nor sloth, or idleness. Take sleep because necessity requires it, not from any love to it; lest thou come to poverty — Lest thou reduce thyself to beggary. Persons that indulge themselves in sleep to excess, not only lose the time which they spend therein, but contract a listless, indolent disposition and habit, and are generally half asleep, or never well awake, and therefore, of course, come to poverty. Open thine eyes — Awake out of sleep, shake off sloth, and betake thyself to thy employment with diligence and vigour. Thou shalt be satisfied with bread — If thou do not grow rich, yet thou shalt have what is sufficient for the supply of thy own wants, and the wants of those dependant upon thee.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:13 Laziness generally leads to poverty (see 10:4-6, 26; 12:11; 13:4; 14:4; 15:19; 18:9; 19:15, 24; 20:4).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Note, 1. Those that indulge themselves in their ease may expect to want necessaries, which should have been gotten by honest labour. "Therefore, though thou must sleep (nature requires it), yet love not sleep, as those do that hate business. Love not sleep for its own sake, but only as it fits for further work. Love not much sleep, but rather grudge the time that is spent in it, and wish thou couldst live without it, that thou mightest always be employed in some good exercise." We must allow it to our bodies as men allow it to their servants, because they cannot help it and otherwise they shall have no good of them. Those that love sleep are likely to come to poverty, not only because they lose the time they spend in excess of sleep, but because they contract a listless careless disposition, and are still half asleep, never well awake. 2. Those that stir up themselves to their business may expect to have conveniences: "Open thy eyes, awake and shake off sleep, see how far in the day it is, how thy work wants thee, and how busy others are about thee! And, when thou art awake, look up, look to thy advantages, and do not let slip thy opportunities; apply thy mind closely to thy business and be in care about it. It is the easy condition of a great advantage: Open thy eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread; if thou dost not grow rich, yet though shalt have enough, and that is as good as a feast."

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Activity and diligence contrasted with sloth (Pro 6:9; Pro 10:11).

lest . . . poverty--literally, "be deprived of inheritance."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(13) Open thine eyes.—Be up and stirring.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. Comp. Pro_6:9-11; Pro_19:15.

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.

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty,.... Sleep is a very great natural blessing; it is a gift of God, what nature requires, and is desirable; it is to be loved, though not immoderately; it is sweet to a man, and what he should be thankful for; yet should not indulge himself in to the neglect of the proper business of life; nor to be used but at the proper time for it; for the eye is made for sight, and not for sleep only, as Aben Ezra observes, connecting the words with the preceding; and therefore should not be kept shut and inattentive to business, which must necessarily end in poverty and want; see Pro 6:9; and so spiritual sleep and slothfulness bring on a spiritual poverty in the souls of men, both as to the exercise of grace and the performance of duty;

open thine eyes, and thou shall be satisfied with bread; that is, open thine eyes from sleep, awake and keep so, and be sedulous and industrious in the business of thy calling; so shalt thou have a sufficiency of food for thyself and family; see Pro 12:11. It may be applied to awaking out of sleep in a spiritual sense, and to a diligent attendance to duty and the use of means, whereby the souls of men come to be satisfied with the goodness of the Lord, and the fatness of his house; see Eph 5:14.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Open thine eyes - Be vigilant and active. That is the secret of prosperity.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Sleep. Septuagint, "back-biting, that thou mayst not be taken off." (Haydock)

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).

Love not sleep, i.e. immoderate sleep, or sloth, or idleness. Take sleep because necessity requires it, not from any love to it.

Open thine eyes; awake out of sleep, shake off sloth, and betake thyself to thy employment with diligence and rigour.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Love not sleep — Love it not for itself — its ease and indulgence — but use it only for the refreshment of nature.

Open thine eyes — Be wide awake and diligent.

Thou shalt be satisfied — Literally, be satisfied. The imperative is frequently used for the indicative future. Sleep is a great blessing, and needful to health, vigour, and activity; but one may contract the habit of sleeping more than is needful. Some men work with body or mind when they ought to be sleeping. Others sleep when they ought to be working. Judgment, prudence, and self-denial are necessary in this as in other matters. Instead of “Love not sleep,” the Septuagint has, “Love not to speak ill,” etc. Compare Pro_12:11; Pro_19:15.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Love not sleep lest thou come to poverty. (see Pro_6:9, etc.) The fate of the sluggard is handled again in Pro_23:21, as often before; e.g. Pro_12:11 Pro_19:15. The LXX, taking hnve (shenah), "sleep," as perhaps connected with the verb hnv (shanah), translate, "Love not to rail, that thou be not exalted (ina mh exarwhv )," i.e. probably, "Do not calumniate others in order to raise yourself;" others translate, "lest thou be cut off." Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satired with bread. These words seem to connect this clause with ver. 12. God gives the faculty, but man must make due use thereof. The gnomist urges, "Do not slumber at your post, or sit downwardly waiting; but be up and doing, be wakeful and diligent, and then you shall prosper."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Open - Shake off sloth and betake thyself to thy employment with diligence and vigour.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

13 Love not sleep, lest thou become poor;

Open thine eyes, and have enough to eat.

What is comprehended in the first line here is presented in detail in Pro 6:9-11. The fut. Niph. of רוּשׁ, to become poor (cf. Pro 10:4), is formed metaplastically from ירשׁ, Pro 23:21; Pro 30:9, as at Sa1 2:7; Hitzig compares (Arab.) ryth, which, however, means to loiter or delay, not to come back or down. The R. רש signifies either to be slack without support (cf. דּל), or to desire (cf. אבון, Arab. fkyr, properly hiscens, R. פק, as in פקח, to open widely, which here follows). Regarding the second imper. 13b, vid., Pro 3:4 : it has the force of a consequence, Las deine augen wacker sein, So wirstu brots gnug haben (Luth.) [Let thine eyes be open, so shalt thou have bread enough]. With these two proverbs of the eyes, the group beginning with Pro 20:8 rounds itself off.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Use ’sleep, as tired nature’s sweet restorer.’†1 So man requires it. So God graciously gives it. (Psa 3:5 ; Psa 4:8 ; Psa 127:2 .) Without it "man" could not "go forth to his work and to his labor." (Psa 104:23 .) Thus recruited for the active diligence of the day, he opens his eyes, "in the sweat of his brow he eats his bread (Gen 3:19 ), and is satisfied with it." But love not sleep for its own sake. ’Let your sleep be necessary and healthful, not idle and expensive of time beyond the needs and conveniences of nature.’†2 Otherwise may it become a baneful and ruinous habit, by which the man of talent, who has much responsibility upon his hand, and no heart to act up to it — cometh to poverty. Valuable opportunities for improvements are let slip, and "the strong man armed" readily takes possession of his prey. (Pro 5:9-11 .) Strange inconsistency and delusion! Man wishes for a long life, and yet willfully shortens the life given to him, by dozing it away in sleep!†3 The time given for eternity is wasted. The talent entrusted for trading is hid in a napkin. Nothing is done for God, for the soul, for his fellow-creatures, or for heaven. Justly is he cast out as a wicked, because a slothful, servant. (Mat 25:14-30 .)

Unquestionably the Christian degrades himself from his proper level by needless indulgence; choosing a state common to him with the brutes, before that which elevates him to fellowship with angels. Nor can he set his heavenly privilege of communion with God at a very high estimate, if he be not willing to sacrifice fleshly pleasure for the enjoyment of it. The evil however does not end with the present indulgence. The habits of the day are enervated. The mind is — at least partially — asleep, during the routine of occupation. What is idle, or calling for little effort, is alone agreeable. Every exercise of self-denial is revolting. It is sufficiently obvious that this spirit has little sympathy with the genuine spirit of religion — life and spirit, and joy and energy. It sinks far below the step and obligation of those, whose profession is — "temples of the Holy Ghost,"†4 "children of the light and of the day,"†5 "virgins with their lamps trimmed"†6 for the bridegroom’s coming, animated candidates for an incorruptible and eternal crown.†7

Specially should those of us, who are of a drowsy habit of body, listen to the call — Love not sleep. Here perhaps may be the Christian conflict, often most painful in the house of God. But in this solemn assembly — the gate of heaven — may we not hear the gentle rebuke, "What! could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." (Mat 26:40-41 .) When resisted, it is an infirmity; when allowed, or only feebly opposed, it is sin. At all events, in the service of God it is safer to consider it, not as a weariness to be encouraged, but as an indulgence to be mortified, and that with vigorous energy of conflict. Else, whilst the self-denying Christian will open his eyes, and be filled with bread, the power of the flesh may impoverish the spirit by the indulgence of a lifeless habit of prayer, hearing, and meditation.

Footnotes:

†1 Young.

†2 Bishop Taylor’s Holy Living, Chapter I. Sect. i.

†3 Pro 19:15. Dr. Doddridge’s life, though far from reaching the age of man (Psa 90:10 ), was yet, by the resistance of this besetting temptation, virtually extended to the ordinary bounds. By his successful energy in redeeming time from sleep he accomplished his invalable work in the midst of multiplied engagements. See Family Expositor on Rom 12:13 . ’I take it for granted, that every Christian, who is in health, is up early in the morning. For it is much more reasonable to suppose a person up early, because he is a Christian, than because he is a laborer, or a tradesman, or a servant, or has business that wants him.’ — Law’s Serious Call.

†4 1Co 6:19 .

†5 1Th 5:5-6 .

†6 Mat 25:7.

†7 1Co 9:24-25 .

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

v. 13. Love not sleep, that associated with slothfulness, lest thou come to poverty, that being the result of sloth; open thine eyes, with the proper energy, industry, and vigor, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread, for so is diligent activity rewarded.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

come to poverty

The phrase "come to" here means to transition into a new situation; to become. AT: "become poor" (See: Idiom)

open your eyes

Here "opening one's eyes" is spoken of as "being awake." AT: "stay awake" or "be alert" (See: Metonymy)

"Bad! Bad!" says the buyer, but when he goes away he boasts

Here a buyer is criticizing what someone is selling to get a low price from him. After he buys he boasts about the good price that he pursuaded the seller to give him. The full meaning of this can be made clear. AT: "'Bad! Bad!' says the buyer criticizing the seller's wares, but after he buys he goes away he boasting about the low price that he paid" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

love

boast

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

lest you become poor Heb. תורש you become poor (רש).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.