Hebrew word · H3463

יָשֵׁן

yashen

sleeping

The verb yāšēn means to sleep, and also to be inactive or still. Calling death "sleep" was ordinary Hebrew idiom: kings "lay down with their fathers", and the psalmist prays "lest I sleep the sleep of death" (Ps 13:3). ʿāpār (dust) is the grave and the underworld (Ps 22:29; Job 17:16; 20:11).

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

sleeping

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 Daniel 12:2

Range of meaning

The verb yāšēn means to sleep, and also to be inactive or still. Calling death "sleep" was ordinary Hebrew idiom: kings "lay down with their fathers", and the psalmist prays "lest I sleep the sleep of death" (Ps 13:3). Job 14:12 says the dead "will not awake… nor be roused out of their sleep", and Jeremiah 51:39, 57 speaks of an "everlasting sleep" from which one does not wake. ʿāpār (dust) is the grave and the underworld (Ps 22:29; Job 17:16; 20:11).

Against the English

"Sleep in the dust of the earth" (KJV, BSB, WEB) is accurate. YLT's "dust of the ground" keeps the soil sense of ʾădāmâ and so the echo of Genesis. NLT turns the image into plain speech ("whose bodies lie dead and buried"), which is clear but drops the sleep-and-wake picture that drives the verse.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 2:7 and 3:19: the human is formed from "dust from the ground" and returns to dust. Isaiah 26:19: "Your dead shall live… awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust." 1 Enoch 91:10 and 92:3 (2nd century BC): "the righteous one shall arise from sleep". Death as sleep continues in the New Testament (1 Thess 4:13; John 11:11).

From the study of 1 Kings 18:27

Range of meaning

yashen: asleep, sleeping (a state). yaqats: to wake up, awake from sleep.

Against the English

English versions add 'must be awakened'. The Hebrew is simpler and more open: 'perhaps he is asleep, and he will wake', i.e. keep it up and you may rouse him.

Used elsewhere in the period

Israel's own psalms use the same image as a bold appeal: 'Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?' (Ps 44:23) and 'Awake as in the days of old' (Isa 51:9). Psalm 121:4 denies it outright: 'he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.' In the wider ancient Near East, gods were thought to sleep in their temples. Egypt had daily rites to wake the god. Josephus (Antiquities 8.146, citing Menander of Ephesus) reports that Hiram of Tyre instituted the 'awakening' (egersis) of Heracles, the Greek name for Melqart, Tyre's Baal.

From the study of Psalm 78:65

Range of meaning

An adjective or participle meaning 'sleeping, asleep, one who sleeps'. Used of literal sleep (1 Sam 26:7; 1 Kgs 3:20) and, in poetry, of inactivity or death (Dan 12:2, 'those who sleep in the dust').

Against the English

BSB 'as from sleep' and KJV 'as one out of sleep' both soften the noun into a phrase. The Hebrew says more starkly 'like a sleeper'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Israel's prayers use the picture of God sleeping in times of defeat: 'Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?' (Ps 44:23), and also Pss 7:6; 35:23; 59:4–5; Isa 51:9. Psalm 121:4 insists that Israel's keeper 'neither slumbers nor sleeps', and Elijah mocks Baal for perhaps being asleep (1 Kgs 18:27). In ancient Near Eastern texts, gods sleeping or resting can signal either neglect or the secure rest of a ruler who has already won (B. Batto, The Sleeping God, 1987).

Similar words

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 26:7 יָשֵׁן֙ sleeping

    That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him.

  2. 1 Samuel 26:12 יְשֵׁנִ֔ים [were] sleeping

    So David took the spear and water jug by Saul’s head, and they departed. No one saw them or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up; they all remained asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.

1 Kings · 2

  1. 1 Kings 3:20 יְשֵׁנָ֔ה [was] sleeping

    So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom.

  2. 1 Kings 18:27 יָשֵׁ֥ן [is] sleeping

    At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”

    Here: A describing word: 'asleep he is'. It is a state, not a quick nap: the god is out cold.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 78:65 כְּיָשֵׁ֥ן׀ like a sleeper

    Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.

    Here: 'Like one who is asleep.' The 'like' (kə-) marks this as a comparison, not a statement that God was literally asleep. The vertical stroke after the word is a Masoretic pause mark (paseq). One common, though uncertain, explanation is that scribes added it to keep 'sleeper' from running straight into 'the Lord'.

Song of Songs · 2

  1. Song of Songs 5:2 יְשֵׁנָ֖ה [was] sleeping

    I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

    Here: A feminine adjective-participle, 'asleep'. It describes a state rather than a single act, so it can be read 'I am asleep' or, since the scene that follows is told as past, 'I was asleep'.

  2. Song of Songs 7:9 יְשֵׁנִֽים׃ sleepers

    and your mouth like the finest wine. May it flow smoothly to my beloved, gliding gently over lips and teeth.

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 12:2 מִיְּשֵׁנֵ֥י of [the] sleepers of

    And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.

    Here: "From among those sleeping": the participle (a verb form used here as a noun) names the dead as "sleepers". This was a standard Hebrew way of speaking of death. Here it also sets up what comes next: sleepers can wake.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 7:6 יָשֵׁ֣ן [is] sleeping

    For they prepare their heart like an oven while they lie in wait; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

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