Psalms 127:2

127:2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,

and work so hard for your food. ¹ 

Yes, ²  he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep. ³ 

Jeremiah 31:26

31:26 Then they will say, ‘Under these conditions I can enjoy sweet sleep

when I wake up and look around.’” ⁴ 

Acts 12:6

12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, ⁵  Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while ⁶  guards in front of the door were keeping watch ⁷  over the prison.

Acts 12:1

James is Killed and Peter Imprisoned

12:1 About that time King Herod ⁸  laid hands on ⁹  some from the church to harm them. ¹⁰ 

Acts 4:13-14

4:13 When they saw the boldness ¹¹  of Peter and John, and discovered ¹²  that they were uneducated ¹³  and ordinary ¹⁴  men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus. 4:14 And because they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this. ¹⁵ 

[127:2]  ¹ tn Heb “[it is] vain for you, you who are early to rise, who delay sitting, who eat the food of hard work.” The three substantival participles are parallel and stand in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the preposition. See לָכֶם (lakhem, “for you”).

[127:2]  ² tn Here the Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4; Ps 63:2).

[127:2]  ³ tn Heb “he gives to his beloved, sleep.” The translation assumes that the Hebrew term שֵׁנָא (shena’, “sleep,” an alternate form of שֵׁנָה, shenah) is an adverbial accusative. The point seems to be this: Hard work by itself is not what counts, but one’s relationship to God, for God is able to bless an individual even while he sleeps. (There may even be a subtle allusion to the miracle of conception following sexual intercourse; see the reference to the gift of sons in the following verse.) The statement is not advocating laziness, but utilizing hyperbole to give perspective and to remind the addressees that God must be one’s first priority. Another option is to take “sleep” as the direct object: “yes, he gives sleep to his beloved” (cf. NIV, NRSV). In this case the point is this: Hard work by itself is futile, for only God is able to bless one with sleep, which metonymically refers to having one’s needs met. He blesses on the basis of one’s relationship to him, not on the basis of physical energy expended.

[31:26]  ⁴ tn Or “When I, Jeremiah, heard this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very pleasant.” The text is somewhat enigmatic. It has often been explained as an indication that Jeremiah had received this communication (30:3–31:26) while in a prophetic trance (compare Dan 10:9). However, there is no other indication that this is a vision or a vision report. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 124, 128-29) suggest that this is a speech of the restored (and refreshed) exiles like that which is formally introduced in v. 23. This speech, however, is not formally introduced. This interpretation is also reflected in TEV, CEV and is accepted here as fitting the context better and demanding less presuppositions. The Hebrew text reads literally, “Upon this I awoke and looked and my sleep was sweet to me.” Keown, Scalise, and Smothers have the best discussion of these two options as well as several other options.

[12:6]  ⁵ tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.

[12:6]  ⁶ tn Grk “two chains, and.” Logically it makes better sense to translate this as a temporal clause, although technically it is a coordinate clause in Greek.

[12:6]  ⁷ tn Or “were guarding.”

[12:1]  ⁸ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great). His mediocre career is summarized in Josephus, Ant. 18-19. This event took place in a.d. 42 or 43.

[12:1]  ⁹ tn Or “King Herod had some from the church arrested.”

[12:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “to cause them injury.”

[4:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “courage.”

[4:13]  ¹² tn Or “and found out.”

[4:13]  ¹³ sn Uneducated does not mean “illiterate,” that is, unable to read or write. Among Jews in NT times there was almost universal literacy, especially as the result of widespread synagogue schools. The term refers to the fact that Peter and John had no formal rabbinic training and thus, in the view of their accusers, were not qualified to expound the law or teach publicly. The objection is like Acts 2:7.

[4:13]  ¹⁴ tn For the translation of ἰδιῶται (idiwtai) as “ordinary men” see L&N 27.26.

[4:14]  ¹⁵ tn Or “nothing to say in opposition.”