15:12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, 5 and great terror overwhelmed him. 6
6:1 Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep, 7 so he asked for the book containing the historical records 8 to be brought. As the records 9 were being read in the king’s presence,
29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you
a strong urge to sleep deeply. 10
He has shut your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
1 tn Heb “And the
2 tn Heb “and he slept.” In the sequence the verb may be subordinated to the following verb to indicate a temporal clause (“while…”).
3 tn Traditionally translated “rib,” the Hebrew word actually means “side.” The Hebrew text reads, “and he took one from his sides,” which could be rendered “part of his sides.” That idea may fit better the explanation by the man that the woman is his flesh and bone.
4 tn Heb “closed up the flesh under it.”
5 tn Heb “a deep sleep fell on Abram.”
6 tn Heb “and look, terror, a great darkness was falling on him.”
7 tn Heb “and the sleep of the king fled.” In place of the rather innocuous comment of the Hebrew text, the LXX reads here, “And the Lord removed the sleep from the king.” The Greek text thus understands the statement in a more overtly theological way than does the Hebrew text, although even in the Hebrew text there may be a hint of God’s providence at work in this matter. After all, this event is crucial to the later reversal of Haman’s plot to destroy the Jewish people, and a sympathetic reader is likely to look beyond the apparent coincidence.
8 tn Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”
9 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.