עוּר

From the study of Psalm 7:6

Range of meaning

Wake up, rouse oneself, stir up; used of waking from sleep, rousing a warrior to battle (Judges 5:12), and stirring up one's strength.

Against the English

"Awake" is accurate. The English form loses the urgency of the Hebrew, which is lengthened like qûmâ.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 35:23 ("Awake and rouse yourself for my judgment"), 44:23, 59:4–5; Isaiah 51:9 ("Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of YHWH"). Israel's own creed says God neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4). Elijah mocks Baal as maybe asleep (1 Kings 18:27), which shows that "sleeping gods" was a familiar idea in the region, and Israel turned the image into a cry of complaint.

From the study of Proverbs 10:12

Range of meaning

Basic sense: to be awake or to wake up. The intensive form used here means 'to rouse, stir up, set in motion' something that was at rest, such as a sleeper, a warrior, a beast or an emotion.

Against the English

'Stirs up' (KJV, ESV, NIV, BSB) is accurate. YLT's 'awaketh' keeps the picture of waking something asleep, which most versions lose.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same form appears in the Song of Songs refrain 'do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases' (Song 2:7; 3:5; 8:4), in Job 3:8 ('ready to rouse Leviathan') and in Zech 9:13 ('I will rouse your sons'). Proverbs also uses a different verb for the same idea: 'a hot-tempered man stirs up strife' (15:18; 29:22).

From the study of Isaiah 51:9

Range of meaning

To wake from sleep; to rouse yourself; to be stirred to action, especially to fight. In the causative form it means 'stir up' or 'arouse' someone else. It is used of sleepers (Zech 4:1), of warriors and war leaders (Judg 5:12, 'Awake, awake, Deborah!'), of a sword ('Awake, O sword', Zech 13:7), and of love (Song 2:7).

Against the English

'Awake' is accurate. What English hides is the battle colour of the word. In Hebrew poetry this is the cry that gets a champion onto the field, not only a gentle 'wake up'.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is a stock cry in Israel's communal laments, prayers of a people in crisis: 'Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Rouse yourself!' (Ps 44:23 [Heb 44:24]); 'Rise up, O LORD… awake for me' (Ps 7:6); see also Ps 35:23 and 59:4–5. Ancient Near Eastern texts can speak of gods sleeping, and Elijah mocks Baal that 'perhaps he is asleep' (1 Kgs 18:27). Israel's psalms insist that YHWH 'neither slumbers nor sleeps' (Ps 121:4), yet in lament they still dare to say 'wake up', meaning 'act as if you were awake!'.