Sleep in the Bible

The word sleep occurs 113 times in 105 verses of the Bible.

links below the citations point to the corresponding full text location at the University of Michigan web site (see footer of this page).

Old Testament

Gen.2
[21] So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh;
Gen.15
[12] As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him.
Gen.28
[11] And he came to a certain place, and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
[16] Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place; and I did not know it."
Gen.31
[40] Thus I was; by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.
Exod.22
[27] for that is his only covering, it is his mantle for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Deut.24
[12] And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge;
[13] when the sun goes down, you shall restore to him the pledge that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.
Deut.31
[16] And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers; then this people will rise and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
Judg.16
[14] So while he slept, Deli'lah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin, and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.
[19] She made him sleep upon her knees; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
[20] And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep, and said, "I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free." And he did not know that the LORD had left him.
1Sam.9
[25] And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul upon the roof, and he lay down to sleep.
1Sam.26
[7] So David and Abi'shai went to the army by night; and there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the army lay around him.
[12] So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head; and they went away. No man saw it, or knew it, nor did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them.
1Kgs.1
[21] Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders."
Esth.6
[1] On that night the king could not sleep; and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.
Job.4
[13] Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
Job.14
[12] so man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake, or be roused out of his sleep.
Job.33
[15] In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while they slumber on their beds,

Psalms and Proverbs

Ps.3
[5] I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
Ps.4
[8] In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for thou alone, O LORD, makest me dwell in safety.
Ps.13
[3] Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Ps.44
[23] Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord? Awake! Do not cast us off for ever!
Ps.76
[5] The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.
Ps.78
[65] Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
Ps.121
[4] Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
Ps.127
[2] It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Ps.132
[4] I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
Prov.3
[24] If you sit down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Prov.4
[16] For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made some one stumble.
Prov.6
[4] Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;
[9] How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?
[10] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
Prov.10
[5] A son who gathers in summer is prudent, but a son who sleeps in harvest brings shame.
Prov.19
[15] Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.
Prov.20
[13] Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.
Prov.24
[33] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
Qoh.5
[12] Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let him sleep.
Qoh.8
[16] When I applied my mind to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night one's eyes see sleep;

Prophets

Isa.5
[27] None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistcloth is loose, not a sandal-thong broken;
Isa.29
[10] For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.
Isa.38
[15] But what can I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. All my sleep has fled because of the bitterness of my soul.
Jer.31
[26] Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
Jer.51
[39] While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, till they swoon away and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the LORD.
[57] I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
Ezek.34
[25] "I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
Dan.2
[1] In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnez'zar, Nebuchadnez'zar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.
Dan.6
[18] Then the king went to his palace, and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
Dan.8
[18] As he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and set me on my feet.
Dan.10
[9] Then I heard the sound of his words; and when I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in a deep sleep with my face to the ground.
Dan.12
[2] And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Jonah.1
[6] So the captain came and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call upon your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we do not perish."
Zech.4
[1] And the angel who talked with me came again, and waked me, like a man that is wakened out of his sleep.

Apocrypha

1Esdr.3
[3] They ate and drank, and when they were satisfied they departed; and Darius the king went to his bedroom, and went to sleep, and then awoke.
[6] He shall be clothed in purple, and drink from gold cups, and sleep on a gold bed, and have a chariot with gold bridles, and a turban of fine linen, and a necklace about his neck;
1Esdr.4
[10] All his people and his armies obey him. Moreover, he reclines, he eats and drinks and sleeps,
4Ezra.2
[31] Remember your sons that sleep, because I will bring them out of the hiding places of the earth, and will show mercy to them; for I am merciful, says the Lord Almighty.
4Ezra.7
[35] And recompense shall follow, and the reward shall be manifested; righteous deeds shall awake, and unrighteous deeds shall not sleep.
[104] He answered me and said, "Since you have found favor in my sight, I will show you this also. The day of judgment is decisive and displays to all the seal of truth. Just as now a father does not send his son, or a son his father, or a master his servant, or a friend his dearest friend, to be ill or sleep or eat or be healed in his stead,
4Ezra.11
[8] "Do not all watch at the same time; let each sleep in his own place, and watch in his turn;
Tob.8
[9] Then they both went to sleep for the night. But Raguel arose and went and dug a grave,
Jdt.14
[14] So Bagoas went in and knocked at the door of the tent, for he supposed that he was sleeping with Judith.
Wis.17
[14] But throughout the night, which was really powerless, and which beset them from the recesses of powerless Hades, they all slept the same sleep,
Sir.22
[7] He who teaches a fool is like one who glues potsherds together, or who rouses a sleeper from deep slumber.
Sir.31
[1] Wakefulness over wealth wastes away one's flesh, and anxiety about it removes sleep.
[2] Wakeful anxiety prevents slumber, and a severe illness carries off sleep.
[20] Healthy sleep depends on moderate eating; he rises early, and feels fit. The distress of sleeplessness and of nausea and colic are with the glutton.
Sir.40
[5] there is anger and envy and trouble and unrest, and fear of death, and fury and strife. And when one rests upon his bed, his sleep at night confuses his mind.
[6] He gets little or no rest, and afterward in his sleep, as though he were on watch, he is troubled by the visions of his mind like one who has escaped from the battle-front;
Sir.42
[9] A daughter keeps her father secretly wakeful, and worry over her robs him of sleep; when she is young, lest she do not marry, or if married, lest she be hated;
Sir.46
[19] Before the time of his eternal sleep, Samuel called men to witness before the Lord and his anointed: "I have not taken any one's property, not so much as a pair of shoes." And no man accused him.
1Mac.6
[10] So he called all his friends and said to them, "Sleep departs from my eyes and I am downhearted with worry.
2Mac.2
[26] For us who have undertaken the toil of abbreviating, it is no light matter but calls for sweat and loss of sleep,
3Mac.1
[3] But Dositheus, known as the son of Drimylus, a Jew by birth who later changed his religion and apostatized from the ancestral traditions, had led the king away and arranged that a certain insignificant man should sleep in the tent; and so it turned out that this man incurred the vengeance meant for the king.
3Mac.5
[11] But the Lord sent upon the king a portion of sleep, that beneficence which from the beginning, night and day, is bestowed by him who grants it to whomever he wishes.
[12] And by the action of the Lord he was overcome by so pleasant and deep a sleep that he quite failed in his lawless purpose and was completely frustrated in his inflexible plan.
[20] the king, possessed by a savagery worse than that of Phalaris, said that the Jews were benefited by today's sleep, "but," he added, "tomorrow without delay prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the lawless Jews!"
[22] But they did not so much employ the duration of the night in sleep as in devising all sorts of insults for those they thought to be doomed.

New Testament

Matt.1
[24] When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife,
Matt.9
[24] he said, "Depart; for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him.
Matt.13
[25] but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
Matt.26
[40] And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour?
[43] And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
[45] Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Mark.4
[27] and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how.
Mark.5
[39] And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping."
Mark.14
[37] And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?
[40] And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer him.
[41] And he came the third time, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come; the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Luke.8
[52] And all were weeping and bewailing her; but he said, "Do not weep; for she is not dead but sleeping."
Luke.9
[32] Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they wakened they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
Luke.22
[45] And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,
[46] and he said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."
John.11
[11] Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, "Our friend Laz'arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep."
[13] Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
Acts.12
[6] The very night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison;
Acts.20
[9] And a young man named Eu'tychus was sitting in the window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer; and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.
Rom.13
[11] Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed;
1Cor.15
[51] Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
2Cor.11
[27] in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Eph.5
[14] Therefore it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light."
1Thes.5
[6] So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
[7] For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
[10] who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him.

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English text according to the Revised Standard Version of the bible. The WWW-accessible form of the text originates from the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Computer Analysis of Texts (CCAT).

Full text links point to the RSV bible of the Humanities Text Initiative (HTI) at the University of Michigan, whose search engine was used to produce the list above.

 

 

 

©1998 BITS OF SLEEP (Demo) : A historical view of sleep: The mystery of sleep.