Proverbs 19:15

19:15 Laziness brings on a deep sleep,

and the idle person will go hungry.

Ezekiel 16:49

16:49 “‘See here – this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help the poor and needy.

Acts 17:21

17:21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time in nothing else than telling or listening to something new.)

Hebrews 6:12

6:12 so that you may not be sluggish, 10  but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises.


tn Heb “causes to fall” or “casts”; NAB “plunges…into.”

tn Or “complete inactivity”; the word תַּרְדֵּמָה (tardemah) can refer to a physical “deep sleep” (e.g., Gen 2:21; Jonah 1:5, 6); but it can also be used figuratively for complete inactivity, as other words for “sleep” can. Here it refers to lethargy or debility and morbidness.

tn The expression וְנֶפֶשׁ רְמִיָּה (vÿnefesh rÿmiyyah) can be translated “the soul of deceit” or “the soul of slackness.” There are two identical feminine nouns, one from the verb “beguile,” and the other from a cognate Arabic root “grow loose.” The second is more likely here in view of the parallelism (cf. NIV “a shiftless man”; NAB “the sluggard”). One who is slack, that is, idle, will go hungry.

sn The two lines are related in a metonymical sense: “deep sleep” is the cause of going hungry, and “going hungry” is the effect of deep sleep.

tn Or “guilt.”

tn Heb “strengthen the hand of.”

tn The imperfect verb ηὐκαίρουν (hukairoun) has been translated as a customary or habitual imperfect.

tn BDAG 406-7 s.v. εὐκαιρέω has “used to spend their time in nothing else than telling Ac 17:21.”

sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. The reference to newness may be pejorative.

10 tn Or “dull.”