Greek word · G1852
ἐξυπνίζω
exypnizō
to awake
'To wake someone up, rouse from sleep', or intransitively 'to wake'. A compound of ex ('out of') and hypnos ('sleep'). It is a later, everyday Greek word. It does not occur anywhere else in the New Testament.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἐξ-υπνίζω
[in LXX: Judges 16:14, 20, 1 Kings 3:13 (יָקַץ), Job 14:12 (עוּר ni.)* ;]
to awaken out of sleep (= ἀφυπνίζω): with accusative of person(s), John 11:11.†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
'To wake someone up, rouse from sleep', or intransitively 'to wake'. A compound of ex ('out of') and hypnos ('sleep'). It is a later, everyday Greek word. It does not occur anywhere else in the New Testament.
- Against the English
BSB and NIV have 'wake him up', ESV 'awaken him'. KJV, WEB and NASB expand to 'awake him out of sleep', which actually spells out the 'out of sleep' built into the Greek compound rather than adding to it.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Septuagint it is used of literal waking: Samson (Judg 16:14, 20), Solomon after his dream (3 Kgdms / 1 Kgs 3:15). Most strikingly, in LXX Job 14:12 Job laments that the dead 'will not be roused out of their sleep' (the same verb is generally read there). Jesus' sentence reverses that lament.
Where it appears
John · 1
-
John 11:11 ἐξυπνίσω I may awaken
After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
Here: Literally 'un-sleep' (ex, 'out of', + hypnos, 'sleep'). It keeps the sleep picture going: if death is sleep, raising is waking. This is its only use in the New Testament.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.