Word study
Sleep
8 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: sleep, slept, sleeping, sleeps. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “sleep” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁכַב shâkablie downtranslated this way 30 times of its 207 uses · Strong’s H7901Verb · Translated: lie 46, rested 35, lies 25, lay 21Full study and all 190 verses →
Genesis 19:32 Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”
Exodus 22:16 If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged in marriage and sleeps with her, he must pay the full dowry for her to be his wife.
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 21 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
Genesis 16:4 And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Genesis 19:31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth.
- שֵׁנָה shênâhsleeptranslated this way 19 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H8142Noun · Translated: sleep 18, last sleep 1, slumber 1Full study and all 20 verses →
Genesis 31:40 As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
Judges 16:14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web.Then she tightened it with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web.
- יָשֵׁן yâshênsleeptranslated this way 11 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H3462Verb · Translated: sleep 7, fall asleep 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Genesis 2:21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh.
Judges 16:19 And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him.
- תַּרְדֵּמָה tardêmâhdeep sleeptranslated this way 7 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H8639Noun · Translated: deep sleep 7Full study and all 7 verses →
Genesis 2:21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh.
1 Samuel 26:12 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.
- רָדַם râdambe in, or fall into, heavy sleeptranslated this way 6 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H7290Verb · Translated: fell into a deep sleep 3, lay sleeping 1, lie stunned 1, sleeps 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Judges 4:21 But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.
Proverbs 10:5 He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
- יָשֵׁן yâshênsleepingtranslated this way 4 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H3463Adjective · Translated: sleep 3, asleep 2, remained asleep 1, sleeping 1Full study and all 9 verses →
1 Kings 18:27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”
Psalm 78:65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.
- יָדַע yâdaknowtranslated this way 2 times of its 914 uses · Strong’s H3045Verb · Translated: know 453, known 53, knows 48, knew 38Full study and all 863 verses →
Genesis 19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
Numbers 31:35 and 32,000 women who had not slept with a man.
Greek words (New Testament)
- καθεύδω katheúdōI sleep, am sleepingtranslated this way 14 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s G2518Verb · Translated: sleeping 8, asleep 6, sleep 3, still sleeping 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Matthew 8:24 Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves. But Jesus was sleeping.
Mark 4:27 Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how.
- κοιμάω koimáōI fall asleep, am asleeptranslated this way 4 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G2837Verb · Translated: fallen asleep 8, fell asleep 3, asleep 2, sleeping 2Full study and all 18 verses →
John 11:12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.”
Acts 12:6 On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison.
- ὕπνος hýpnossleeptranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5258Noun · Translated: sleep 2, asleep 1, slumber 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Luke 9:32 Meanwhile Peter and his companions were overcome by sleep, but when they awoke, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with Him.
Acts 20:9 And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about sleep: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.