How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?
English Standard Version (ESV)
This isn't just one question, but two that intensify the urgency. The first, "How long?" implies a weary exasperation, while the second, "When will you arise?" sounds almost like a mock surprise, highlighting the sluggard's baffling inability to stir even when life demands it.
How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?
English Standard Version (ESV)
This passage is part of a direct, almost exasperated plea to a lazy person. Just before, the wise writer pointed to the ant's tireless industry as a model, contrasting its diligence with the sluggard's idleness. The questions here are meant to jolt the lazy individual awake, highlighting the absurdity of their continued inactivity when life demands action and consequences loom large.
Ever feel like life is passing you by while you're still hitting the snooze button? The Bible uses a powerful, repeated question to grab our attention.
This verse isn't just a gentle nudge; it's a sharp, almost exasperated question: 'How long?' and 'When?' The repetition isn't accidental. It highlights the sheer absurdity of the sluggard's continued inaction. Imagine someone sleeping through a fire alarm or ignoring a flood warning – that’s the picture being painted here. It’s a call to recognize the foolishness of prolonging inactivity when life demands attention and action.
What happens when we ignore the calls to wake up? This proverb doesn't just scold; it warns of inevitable consequences.
The sluggard’s choice to stay asleep has serious, unavoidable outcomes. The proverb compares poverty arriving 'as one that travelleth' and wants 'as an armed man.' This isn't a gentle decline; it's a swift, overwhelming invasion. It means that opportunities missed and responsibilities ignored don't just fade away – they catch up to you with force. It’s a stark reminder that while rest is good, prolonged idleness leads to destruction.
Understand the original words
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qum · Hebrew Verb
The act of getting up, standing, or awakening. It carries a sense of moral or spiritual activation and moving into purposeful action.
shenah · Hebrew Noun
Inactivity or a state of unconsciousness. Biblically, it often serves as a metaphor for spiritual apathy, negligence, or lack of alertness toward God's demands.
This passage offers another vivid picture of the sluggard, showing his field overgrown and his land covered with thorns, directly illustrating the consequences of the very idleness questioned in Proverbs 6:9.
Nehemiah 2:6The phrasing 'How long will the journey be? and when wilt thou return?' uses a similar questioning structure to highlight impatience or a desire for something to end, paralleling the exasperation in Proverbs 6:9 towards the sluggard's prolonged inaction.
Romans 13:11This verse calls believers to 'wake up from sleep,' directly echoing the urgency of Proverbs 6:9 and applying the principle of rousing oneself from slumber to the spiritual life and the impending salvation.
1 Thessalonians 5:6Similar to Proverbs 6:9, this verse exhorts believers to 'stay awake and be clear-minded,' contrasting the vigilance needed with the 'sleep' of spiritual unawareness and the consequences of 'night' and darkness.
bensonProverbs 6:9: "How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?"
Proverbs 6:9-11 . How long, &c. — O the strange idleness of mankind! who have so many monitors and governors, that call upon them again and again, to excite them to diligence, but in vain! Wilt thou sleep, O sluggard — When the ants are so watchful, and labour not only in the day-time, but even by night, when the moon shines. Yet a little sleep, &c. — This he speaks in the person of the sluggard, refusi…
pulpitProverbs 6:9: "How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?"
Verse 9-Vers. 9-11 contain a call to the sluggard to rouse himself from his lethargy, and the warning of the evil consequences if he remains heedless of the reproof. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? It is the same as if it were said, "What infatuation is this which makes you lie and sleep as if you had nothing else to do?" The double question stigmatizes the sluggard's utter indolence, and suggests…
This isn't just one question, but two that intensify the urgency. The first, "How long?" implies a weary exasperation, while the second, "When will you arise?" sounds almost like a mock surprise, highlighting the sluggard's baffling inability to stir even when life demands it.
This passage is part of a direct, almost exasperated plea to a lazy person. Just before, the wise writer pointed to the ant's tireless industry as a model, contrasting its diligence with the sluggard's idleness. The questions here are meant to jolt the lazy individual awake, highlighting the absurdity of their continued inactivity when life demands action and consequences loom large.
This passage is part of a direct, almost exasperated plea to a lazy person. Just before, the wise writer pointed to the ant's tireless industry as a model, contrasting its diligence with the sluggard's idleness. The questions here are meant to jolt the lazy individual awake, highlighting the absurdity of their continued inactivity when life demands action and consequences loom large.
"How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?" — This isn't just one question, but two that intensify the urgency. The first, "How long?" implies a weary exasperation, while the second, "When will you arise?" sounds almost like a mock surprise, hig…
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Last reviewed October 2026