Hebrew word · H6974

קִיץ

yakitzu

to awake

To wake up from sleep (Ps 3:5; Prov 6:22). It is used of God 'waking' to act (Ps 44:23), and of the dead waking (2 Kgs 4:31, of the child who 'has not awakened'; Jer 51:39, 57, 'sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake').

Appears 22 times in 21 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to awake, wake up

1a) (Hiphil) to awaken, arouse, show signs of waking, awake

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 Isaiah 26:19

Range of meaning

To wake up from sleep (Ps 3:5; Prov 6:22). It is used of God 'waking' to act (Ps 44:23), and of the dead waking (2 Kgs 4:31, of the child who 'has not awakened'; Jer 51:39, 57, 'sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake').

Against the English

'Awake' is accurate. Readers should hear that death is being treated as sleep that can end.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 12:2 almost certainly picks up this verse: 'many of those who sleep in the land of dust (admat ʿafar) shall awake (yaqitsu)'. It uses the same verb and the same 'dust' image. Job 14:12 says the dead 'will not awake'.

From the study of Daniel 12:2

Range of meaning

This is the causative-stem form (Hebrew hiphil) of qyṣ, used intransitively: to awake, wake up from sleep (Gen 28:16; 1 Sam 26:12), or to rouse oneself. In poetry it is used of God "awaking" to act (Ps 35:23) and of the dead waking (Isa 26:19; 2 Kgs 4:31, where the dead child "has not awakened").

Against the English

All the main versions say "awake". Some paraphrases say "rise" or "be raised", which states the meaning plainly but loses the link to "sleepers".

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 26:19 uses the same root (hāqîṣû, "awake!") with "dust". Daniel 12:2 is widely read as a deliberate reuse of that verse. Ezekiel 7:6 plays on qēṣ "end" and hēqîṣ "has awakened", which shows Hebrew writers heard the two words together.

From the study of Jeremiah 31:26

Range of meaning

The verb qîṣ, used in the causative form, means "to wake up" or "rouse oneself". It is used for waking from ordinary sleep (Gen 28:16 has a different verb; compare 1 Sam 26:12, Prov 23:35), waking from drunkenness (Joel 1:5), and, in poetry, God being called to "wake up" and act (Ps 35:23; 44:23). It also describes the dead waking (Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2).

Against the English

Every major English version has "awoke" or "awaked". The English is accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

In biblical narrative, waking often follows a revelation received in sleep. Jacob at Bethel wakes from his dream (Gen 28:16, using yāqaṣ, a closely related form of the same idea). Solomon "awoke, and behold, it was a dream" (1 Kgs 3:15). Pharaoh wakes after his dreams (Gen 41:4, 7, 21). Across the ancient Near East, dream revelation was a recognized category, for example in Mesopotamian dream reports and incubation (sleeping at a shrine to receive a message).

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 26:12 מֵקִ֗יץ [was one who] awoke

    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.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 4:31 הֵקִ֖יץ he has awakened

    Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”

Job · 1

  1. Job 14:12 יָקִ֑יצוּ they will awake

    so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.

    Here: 'They will (not) wake up.' The subject turns plural: Job moves from one man to the whole human race. Jeremiah 51:39 and 51:57 use the same words of people who will 'sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake.' Daniel 12:2 later uses this same verb to promise the opposite: 'many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.'

Psalms · 7

  1. Psalm 3:5 הֱקִיצ֑וֹתִי I awoke

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

    Here: 'I woke up.' The point is that he woke at all. The night attack he had reason to fear did not come, and he is alive in the morning. The pause mark in the Hebrew puts a beat after this word, before the reason is given.

  2. Psalm 17:15 בְ֝הָקִ֗יץ when awake

    As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied in Your presence.

    Here: "At the awaking" or "when (I) awake." It is a verb form with no stated subject or time. In context it most naturally means waking after the night of testing in verse 3. Later readers also heard it as waking from death (compare Daniel 12:2).

  3. Psalm 35:23 וְ֭הָקִיצָה and awake !

    Awake and rise to my defense, to my cause, my God and my Lord!

    Here: 'And wake up!' This verb means coming out of sleep in particular (it is used of Jacob, Samson and Solomon waking). Put next to the first verb, it makes a double cry, 'Get up! Wake up!', as though God were asleep while his servant is attacked.

  4. Psalm 44:23 הָ֝קִ֗יצָה awake !

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

    Here: A second, matching imperative in the emphatic form: "Wake up!" The verb means specifically to come awake out of sleep. It does not mean "stand up." That comes later, in v. 26 ("Rise up," qûmāh). Elijah paired this verb with "sleep" when he mocked Baal: "perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened."

  5. Psalm 59:5 הָקִ֗יצָה awake !

    O LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, rouse Yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah

  6. Psalm 73:20 מֵהָקִ֑יץ from when awakes

    Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

  7. Psalm 139:18 הֱ֝קִיצֹ֗תִי I awoke

    If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

    Here: "I awoke / I awake". The form normally describes a completed event: I have come out of sleep. The line jumps with no connecting word from the impossible counting to waking up. That gap is why readers disagree about whether it means waking from ordinary sleep, from a night spent in the sanctuary, or (in later readings) from death.

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 6:22 וַ֝הֲקִיצ֗וֹתָ and you will awake

    When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.

    Here: 'And when you wake up.' This is the only clause of the three where the son is the grammatical subject. Literally it is a flat statement, 'and you wake', after which the teaching is already there and speaking (Young's Literal Translation keeps this abruptness).

  2. Proverbs 23:35 אָקִ֑יץ will I awake

    “They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”

Isaiah · 3

  1. Isaiah 26:19 הָקִ֨יצוּ awake

    Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.

    Here: 'Wake up!' This is the word for waking from sleep, so death is pictured as sleep that can be broken. Daniel 12:2 uses the same verb.

  2. Isaiah 29:8 וְהֵקִיץ֮ וְהֵקִיץ֙ and he awakes

    as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 31:26 הֱקִיצֹ֣תִי I awoke

    At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.

    Here: "I woke up." The ordinary verb for coming out of sleep, here in the first person. It shows that what came before was received while the speaker was asleep or in a sleep-like state.

  2. Jeremiah 51:39 יָקִ֑יצוּ they will awake

    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: 'They will (not) wake'. This is the ordinary verb for waking from sleep. Saying they will not wake confirms that the 'sleep' is death (compare Job 14:12).

  3. Jeremiah 51:57 יָקִ֑יצוּ they will awake

    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: To wake from sleep. 'They will not wake' finishes the picture: the drunken officials never get up from this sleep.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 7:6 הֵקִ֣יץ it has awakened

    The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. Behold, it has come!

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 12:2 יָקִ֑יצוּ they will awake

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

    Here: "Will wake up": the ordinary verb for waking from sleep, used here for coming back to life. It picks up Isaiah 26:19 ("Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust"). It may also echo the sound of qēṣ, "end", a key word in these chapters.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 1:5 הָקִ֤יצוּ awake

    Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.

    Here: A command to wake out of sleep, here the heavy sleep that follows a night of drinking. The first word is a jolt: the drinkers have slept through the disaster and must come to and see it.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 2:19 הָקִ֔יצָה wake up !

    Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

    Here: 'Wake up!' A masculine command, matching the masculine noun 'wood'. It is the very word Israel's own psalms use when they cry to the LORD to stir himself (Ps 44:23; 35:23), and the word Elijah used to mock Baal: 'perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened' (1 Kgs 18:27).

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