Hebrew word · H3462

יָשֵׁן

veyashenu

to sleep

The verb yāšēn means 'sleep,' literally or as a picture of death. Here it takes 'the death' as its object: 'sleep the death,' meaning the sleep that is death.

Appears 19 times in 19 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to sleep, be asleep

1a) (Qal) to sleep, go to sleep, be asleep

1b) (Niphal)

1b1) to remain a long time, be stored up

1b2) to be festering (of leprosy)

1c) (Piel) to cause to sleep, entice to sleep

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 13:3

Range of meaning

The verb yāšēn means 'sleep,' literally or as a picture of death. Here it takes 'the death' as its object: 'sleep the death,' meaning the sleep that is death.

Against the English

KJV adds italic words to make 'sleep the sleep of death.' BSB, WEB, YLT and NIV say 'sleep in death.' NLT simply says 'I will die,' which is clear but drops the picture.

How it drifted

Modern ears, used to 'rest in peace' and 'fallen asleep in the Lord,' can hear sleep-as-death as gentle or comforting. Here it is the thing the speaker most fears.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 3:13; 14:12 ('so man lies down and does not rise… nor be roused out of his sleep'); Jer 51:39, 57 ('sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake'); Dan 12:2 ('those who sleep in the dust of the earth'). Kings 'lie down with their fathers' (1 Kgs 2:10). LXX here: hypnōsō eis thanaton, 'sleep into death.'

From the study of Deuteronomy 4:25

Range of meaning

In this form the verb means to be old, long-standing or established. Its close relatives describe old grain and a skin disease that has become chronic.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, BSB and NIV give the sense of duration ('remained long', 'been long', 'a long time'). YLT and ESV keep the picture of aging ('become old', 'grown old'), which is nearer to the Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 13:11 uses the form for a chronic skin disease. Leviticus 26:10 uses the related adjective and verb for old stored grain ('old, long-kept'). The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) uses a verb meaning to spend a long time or linger.

From the study of Psalm 121:4

Range of meaning

To sleep, fall asleep, be asleep. It can also mean the sleep of death (Jer 51:39, 57; Ps 13:3 "lest I sleep the sleep of death"; Dan 12:2). It can describe someone or something left inactive, unaware or unresponsive.

Against the English

Rendered "sleep" everywhere, which is accurate. What can be lost is how it pairs with nûm. The two together do not just repeat each other. They go from drowsing to deep sleep, so that every degree of sleep is ruled out.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elijah taunts the prophets of Baal: "perhaps he is asleep (yāšēn) and must be woken" (1 Kgs 18:27). Israel's own laments use the image of God asleep for times when he seems to do nothing: "Awake! Why do you sleep (tîšan), O Lord?" (Ps 44:23); "the Lord awoke as from sleep" (Ps 78:65). Ancient Near Eastern myths describe gods who sleep. In Atrahasis the noise of humankind disturbs the high god's sleep. In Enuma Elish, Apsu cannot rest because of the younger gods' noise. Egyptian temple ritual woke the god's image each morning.

Similar words

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 2:21 וַיִּישָׁ֑ן and he fell asleep

    So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh.

    Here: A short, separate clause: the sleep took hold and the man was out. The storyteller stops for a moment so we know he was fully asleep before God acts.

  2. Genesis 41:5 וַיִּישָׁ֕ן and he slept

    but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk.

Leviticus · 2

  1. Leviticus 13:11 נוֹשֶׁ֤נֶת grown old

    it is a chronic skin disease and the priest must pronounce him unclean. He need not isolate him, for he is unclean.

  2. Leviticus 26:10 נוֹשָׁ֑ן growing old

    You will still be eating the old supply of grain when you need to clear it out to make room for the new.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 4:25 וְנוֹשַׁנְתֶּ֖ם and you will grow old

    After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—

    Here: 'And you will have grown old': you will have become long-settled. The verb says age and duration, and the picture is of a people no longer new to the land. It does not mean 'sleep' here (see the textual notes).

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 16:19 וַתְּיַשְּׁנֵ֙הוּ֙ and she made sleep him

    And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 19:5 וַיִּישַׁ֔ן and he slept

    Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

Job · 1

  1. Job 3:13 יָ֝שַׁ֗נְתִּי I slept

    For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

Psalms · 5

  1. Psalm 3:5 וָֽאִ֫ישָׁ֥נָה and I slept !

    I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.

    Here: 'And I slept.' The 'and' plus this verb form is the usual Hebrew way of telling what happened next. The extra -ah ending is a lengthened form common in poetry and later Hebrew. Most grammarians read it as plain narrative here, not 'let me sleep.' He did not just lie awake. He actually fell asleep.

  2. Psalm 4:8 וְאִ֫ישָׁ֥ן and I may sleep

    I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

    Here: "And I sleep," or "and so I may sleep." It carries on the resolve of the previous verb. Real sleep, the opposite of lying awake with fear or bitterness (compare Ps 3:5, "I lay down and slept; I woke again").

  3. Psalm 13:3 אִישַׁ֥ן I should sleep

    Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,

    Here: 'I sleep.' Sleep is a common Hebrew picture for death, not because death is pleasant, but because a dead body lies still and does not wake (Job 3:13; 14:12; Jer 51:39).

  4. Psalm 44:23 תִישַׁ֥ן׀ do you sleep

    Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.

    Here: "Do you sleep / keep on sleeping." The tense describes something going on now. God looks as though he is asleep while his people are being killed (v. 22). It is the same verb Psalm 121:4 uses when it says Israel's keeper "will neither slumber nor sleep," and the same verb Elijah used to mock Baal (1 Kings 18:27).

  5. Psalm 121:4 יִישָׁ֑ן he will sleep

    Behold, the Protector of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

    Here: Full sleep, being out and unaware. Set after "drowse," it completes a rising pair: he neither starts to nod off nor goes all the way under.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 4:16 יִֽ֭שְׁנוּ they will sleep

    For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.

    Here: The verb form describes what they habitually do: as a rule these men do not sleep. Lying down to sleep is the most ordinary human need, and here it depends on hurting someone.

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 5:12 לִישֽׁוֹן׃ to sleep

    The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 5:27 יִישָׁ֑ן anyone will sleep

    None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 51:39 וְיָשְׁנ֥וּ and they will sleep

    While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD.

    Here: 'And they will sleep'. This is the drunk's collapse into sleep, and the next words turn it into death.

  2. Jeremiah 51:57 וְיָשְׁנ֥וּ and they will sleep

    I will make her princes and wise men drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and not wake up,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

    Here: The drunken stupor leads straight into sleep. The form again points to the future: 'and so they will sleep.'

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 34:25 וְיָשְׁנ֖וּ and they will sleep

    I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.

    Here: Sleep is the moment when a sheep or a person is most exposed. Sleeping out in the open without a guard shows complete safety.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.