Proverbs 6:4

Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The father addresses his son immediately after advising him to humbly plead with a neighbor for release from an urgent obligation. The command functions as a directive for immediate action before the warning in Proverbs 6:5 about sudden deliverance.

The words — The Hebrew אַל־תִּתֵּן ('al-titten) fuses a prohibition particle with the verb "to give," literally rendering "may not you give." The phrase שֵׁנָה לְעֵינֶיךָ (she-nah le-'e-ne-kha) specifies "sleep to your eyes," directly paired with תְנוּמָה לְעַפְעַפֶּיךָ (te-nu-mah le-'af-'a-pe-kha), "slumber to your eyelids."

The thread — The text parallels Psalms 132:4, which frames the refusal of sleep within a conditional "if" clause rather than a direct prohibition. It also anticipates the warning in Proverbs 6:10 about the danger of incremental rest and aligns with the watchfulness command in Mark 13:35.

Why it lands — The text states a direct order to withhold physical rest to secure urgent deliverance. It asks the reader to treat immediate responsibility as non-negotiable and to recognize that delay actively endangers escape.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

אַל־'al-may not תִּתֵּ֣ןti.Tenyou give שֵׁנָ֣הshe.Nahsleep לְעֵינֶ֑יךָle./'ei.Nei./khato/ eyes/ your וּ֝תְנוּמָ֗הu./te.nu.Mahand/ slumber לְעַפְעַפֶּֽיךָ׃le./'af.'a.Pei./khato/ eyelids/ your

King James Version

Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

Cross-references

Psalms 132:4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
Proverbs 6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
Mark 13:35 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the master of the house will return—whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
Matthew 24:17 Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house.