Proverbs 6:10

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.

{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.

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.

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. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

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,

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.