Sleep in the Bible 💤 – We all have to have sleep. Sometimes sleep is easier for some and harder for others. What does the Bible say about it? #Sleep #BGBG2
Let us first see what the dictionary says sleep means.
a condition of body and mind such as that which typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended.
Oxford Dictionary
Sometimes we refer to sleep as peace in death.
תַּרְדֵּמָה
tardêmâh /tar-day-maw’/ This is a deep sleep. See H8639
When God created woman, he put man (Adam) in a deep sleep. This is one of the most famous sleeps in the Bible. See below.
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.
Genesis 2;21 NASB
There are other Lexicons used as well for sleep both from Hebrew (Old Testament), Aramaic (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament). See the charts below.
Here are the Hebrew uses …
| H1957 | הָזָה | hazah | sleeping |
| H3462 | יָשַׁן | yashen | sleep, remained long, old, old store |
| H3463 | יָשֵׁן | yashen | sleep, asleep |
| H7290 | רָדַם | radam | ..deep sleep, was fast asleep, sleep, sleeper |
| H7901 | שָׁכַב | shakab | lie, sleep, lie down, rest, lien, misc |
| H8142 | שֵׁנָא | shehah | sleep |
| H8153 | שְׁנָת | shĕnath | sleep |
| H8639 | תַּרְדֵּמָה | tardemah | deep sleep |
Here is the Aramaic use
| H8139 | שְׁנָה | shĕnah | sleep |
Here are the Greek uses
| G879 | ἀφυπνόω | aphypnoō | fall asleep |
| G1852 | ἐξυπνίζω | exypnizō | awake out of sleep |
| G1853 | ἔξυπνος | exypnos | awake out of sleep |
| G2518 | καθεύδω | katheudō | sleep |
| G2837 | κοιμάω | koimaō | sleep, fall asleep, be asleep, fall on sleep, be dead |
| G5258 | ὕπνος | hypnos | sleep |
These charts are from Blue Letter Bible.
ὕπνος
hypnos / hü’p-nos / This type was only used in 5 verses like this one below. This is where we get the word hypnosis. See G5258
I think most of us know about this incident of sleep in the bible where a man fell out of a window due to sleeping.
And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.
Acts 20:9
There you have it! A lot of sleep study to do!
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