do not love sleep

In Gbaya, the notion of not loving sleep (and accordingly getting up early in Proverbs 20:13 is emphasized with sút, an ideophone that refers to early morning.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 20:13

This saying contrasts the person who likes to sleep all the time (see also 6.9-11) with the person who gets up to work and provides for his needs.

“Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty”: To “love sleep” means to sleep a lot, or “sleep all the time” (Contemporary English Version). “Lest you . . .” means “so that you will not. . .”; New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and others say “Do not love sleep or you will. . ..” Another way to express this line is “If you are a person who sleeps all the time, you will become poor” (see Good News Translation). The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “come to poverty” is “be dispossessed” or perhaps “lose your inheritance” (Scott); the intended sense seems to be that lazy people lose what they have or what they could have and hence “become poor.”

“Open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread”: The two parts of this line are the contrasts or opposites of the two parts of the previous line. “Open your eyes” contrasts with “Love . . . sleep”, so it probably means “stay awake” (New International Version) or “keep awake” (Revised English Bible). In the light of the rest of the line, however, and in contrast to the inactivity of sleep, we may also understand the expression to refer to being active; so Contemporary English Version has “get up and work” and Good News Translation “keep busy.” Since “bread” was the staple or common food for people in Israel in Bible times, this reference is to “plenty of food” or “plenty to eat” (Good News Translation, Scott). The form of this line in Hebrew is two imperatives, “Open your eyes, be fully satisfied with bread”; but clearly the second is the consequence of the first. Most English versions follow the “and” construction of Revised Standard Version; but another good option for translators is the conditional “If you get up and work, you will have enough food” (Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

complete verse (Proverbs 20:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 20:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “When/if a person always loves sleep (he) will be poor,
    and/but when/if )he) goes early to work, (he) gets something to eat.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If all you do is sleep,
    your stomach will go without food,
    If you keep your eyes open
    you will have as much to eat as you like.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “If you (sing.) just keep-on sleeping, you (sing.) will-be-hungry, but if you (sing.) get-up and work, your (sing.) food will-be-many.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “If you (sing.) always keep-sleeping, you (sing.) will-become-poor in-the-future, but if you (sing.) get-up so-that you (sing.) will work, you (sing.) will eat much.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “If you want to sleep all the time, you will become poor;
    if you stay awake and work, you will have plenty of food.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 20:13

20:13

This proverb contrasts the bad results of loving sleep with the good results of staying awake. Notice that the negative command “Do not love sleep” is actually similar in meaning to the positive command “stay awake”:

13a
Do not love sleep or you will grow poor ;

13b
open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food.

20:13a

Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor:
The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as or is literally “lest.” It introduces the bad consequences of ignoring the preceding command.

Do not love sleep: This command is a general admonition or warning to anyone. It does not imply that particular listeners or readers did in fact love sleep. The purpose of the command is to warn people not to be lazy. It indicates that they should not sleep when they ought to be working.

Some other ways to translate 20:13a are:

Do not love sleep lest you become impoverished (NET Bible)
-or-
If you spend your time sleeping, you will be poor. (Good News Translation)

20:13b

open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food: There are two ways to interpret the command that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as open your eyes :

(1) It means “stay awake,” “stay alert,” or “stay busy.” It implies that a person should stay alert in order to do his work. For example:

Keep busy (Good News Translation)

(2) It means “open your eyes,” “wake up, or get up.” It implies that a person should wake up in order to do his work. For example:

if you get up and work (Contemporary English Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with most versions and scholars.

In Hebrew, this line consists of two commands: “stay awake” and “be satisfied with food.” Some ways to translate these two commands are:

• Use two commands. For example:

keep your eyes open and have your fill of food (New Jerusalem Bible)

• Translate the first clause as a command. Translate the second clause so that it is understood as a result of the first command (as in the Berean Standard Bible). For example:

Keep busy and you will have plenty to eat. (Good News Translation)

• Translate the two commands as an “if” clause followed by a result. For example:

If you stay awake, you will have plenty of food. (New Century Version)

you will have plenty of food: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as food is literally “bread.” Bread was the staple food in Israel. To have plenty of food means “to have plenty of food.”

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