StrongerBible

shenah

שֵׁנָה

HebrewH8142sleep

Appears 23 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 28:16Gen 31:40Jdg 16:14Jdg 16:20Est 6:1Job 14:12Psa 76:5(6)Psa 90:5Psa 127:2Pro 3:24Pro 4:16Pro 6:4Pro 6:9Pro 6:10Pro 20:13Pro 24:33Ecc 5:12(11)Ecc 8:16Jer 31:26Jer 51:39Jer 51:57Dan 2:1Zec 4:1
Root family
Word studysheh-NAHnoun

What shenah means

sleep: the natural rest in which a person lies still and unaware

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

At its heart the word names plain sleep, the nightly rest of the body. People wake from it (Jacob at Bethel, Samson in Delilah's lap), are robbed of it (Jacob during his hard years with Laban, a sleepless king, Nebuchadnezzar troubled by his dreams), or find it sweet (the tired laborer, the person who trusts God and lies down in peace).

From that plain sense the Hebrew builds two vivid pictures. Death is spoken of as a sleep from which no one wakes, a perpetual sleep. And the lazy person's ruin is shown beginning in bed: a little sleep, a little slumber, and then poverty arrives.

In every case the word itself still means sleep. The extra weight of death or of laziness comes from the surrounding verse, not from a second meaning hidden inside the word, which is why one meaning with a few shades covers the whole range.

Nuances

1athe body's ordinary rest: being asleep, or the sleep one loses or enjoys
Gen 28:16Gen 31:40Jdg 16:14Jdg 16:20Est 6:1Psa 90:5Psa 127:2Ecc 5:12(11)Ecc 8:16Jer 31:26Dan 2:1Zec 4:1
1bthe sleep of death: death pictured as a sleep from which a person does not wake
Job 14:12Psa 76:5(6)Jer 51:39Jer 51:57
1cthe sluggard's sleep: rest given in to as laziness, the drowsy ease that ends in want
Pro 6:9Pro 6:10Pro 20:13Pro 24:33

What scholars say about shenah

The noun שֵׁנָה derives from the root ישן ("to sleep") and denotes the ordinary state of sleep. HALOT and BDB treat it as a single lexeme without sense division, the death and sloth applications being contextual rather than separate meanings. The use of sleep as a figure for death (Job 14:12; Jer 51:39, 57; Ps 76:5) is a widespread biblical and wider ancient Near Eastern idiom, discussed in TDOT under the root יָשֵׁן. The recurring Proverbs picture of sleep as the sluggard's characteristic vice (Prov 6:9-11; 20:13; 24:33) is a wisdom-literature motif built on the same plain sense, not a distinct lexical entry.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. שֵׁנָהlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. שֵׁנָהlexicon
  • TDOT, s.v. יָשֵׁןtheological dictionary

All attested forms of שֵׁנָה

f s absolute

שֵׁנָה, שֵׁנָא

Psa 90:5, Pro 6:4, Pro 20:13, Ecc 8:16, Psa 127:2

f s construct

שְּׁנָתוֹ, שְׁנָתוֹ

Gen 28:16, Jdg 16:14, Jdg 16:20, Zec 4:1, Dan 2:1

f s construct

שְׁנַת

Est 6:1, Ecc 5:12, Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57

f s construct

שְׁנָתָם, שְּׁנָתָם

Psa 76:5, Pro 4:16, Job 14:12

f p absolute

שֵׁנוֹת

Pro 6:10, Pro 24:33

f s construct

שְׁנָתִי

Gen 31:40, Jer 31:26

f s construct

שְׁנָתֶךָ, שְּׁנָתֶךָ

Pro 3:24, Pro 6:9