Hebrew word · H5124

נוּמָה

numah

drowsiness

Drowsiness, slumber, a stupor of half-sleep. The noun occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. It comes from the verb nûm 'to slumber, doze' (Ps 121:3–4; Isa 5:27; 56:10; Nah 3:18).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

drowsiness, somnolence, indolence (fig.)

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 Proverbs 23:21

Range of meaning: Drowsiness, slumber, a stupor of half-sleep. The noun occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. It comes from the verb nûm 'to slumber, doze' (Ps 121:3–4; Isa 5:27; 56:10; Nah 3:18).
Against the English: 'Drowsiness' (KJV, BSB, WEB, NASB, YLT), 'slumber' (ESV), 'too much sleep' (NLT). The NLT turns it into oversleeping. The Hebrew is about torpor: dull, heavy sluggishness.
How it drifted: English 'drowsiness' can sound mild and passing, like a sleepy afternoon. Here it is a condition that takes hold of a life.
Used elsewhere in the period: The verb nûm is used of watchmen and leaders who fail by dozing (Isa 56:10, 'loving to slumber'; Nah 3:18, 'your shepherds slumber'). The related noun tenûmāh appears in the sluggard sayings (Prov 6:10; 24:33, 'a little slumber…').

Where it appears

Proverbs · 1

Proverbs 23:21 נוּמָֽה׃ drowsiness

For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

Here: The heavy, sluggish half-sleep that follows a night of wine and meat, and turns into a habit of idleness. The word comes last as the sting at the end: the cause of the rags is named last.

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