Bible Strands
Proverbs 6:9
How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses a sluggard immediately after citing the ant’s industry in Proverbs 6:8 and before detailing how minor delays accumulate in Proverbs 6:10. The moment interrupts a series of practical instructions to confront inaction directly.
The words — מָתַ֖י (ma.Tai) means "when?" and עָצֵ֥ל ('a.Tzel) means "sluggard." These terms frame the verse as a repeated interrogative rather than a statement of fact.
The thread — The refrain "when will you" appears in Psalms 94:8 and Jeremiah 4:14 to confront spiritual dullness, while Proverbs 24:33 repeats the sleep motif to show how hesitation compounds. Each reference uses the same rhetorical structure to demand accountability for delayed response.
Why it lands — The text demands immediate cessation of procrastination by treating delay as a futile question rather than a legitimate choice. It requires the reader to recognize that repeated postponement is itself a decision with measurable consequences.
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
King James Version
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Cross-references
- Proverbs 24:33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
- Psalms 94:8 Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?
- Jeremiah 4:14 Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Ephesians 5:14 So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Proverbs 1:22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
- Romans 13:11 And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2 For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
- John 1:6 There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John.