Mishle 20:13

13 Love not sheynah (sleep), lest thou come to poverty; open thine eynayim, and thou shalt have enough lechem.

Mishle 20:13 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 20:13

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty
Sleep is a very great natural blessing; it is a gift of God, what nature requires, and is desirable; it is to be loved, though not immoderately; it is sweet to a man, and what he should be thankful for; yet should not indulge himself in to the neglect of the proper business of life; nor to be used but at the proper time for it; for the eye is made for sight, and not for sleep only, as Aben Ezra observes, connecting the words with the preceding; and therefore should not be kept shut and inattentive to business, which must necessarily end in poverty and want; see ( Proverbs 6:9-11 ) ; and so spiritual sleep and slothfulness bring on a spiritual poverty in the souls of men, both as to the exercise of grace and the performance of duty; open thine eyes, [and] thou shall be satisfied with bread;
that is, open thine eyes from sleep, awake and keep so, and be sedulous and industrious in the business of thy calling; so shalt thou have a sufficiency of food for thyself and family; see ( Proverbs 12:11 ) . It may be applied to awaking out of sleep in a spiritual sense, and to a diligent attendance to duty and the use of means, whereby the souls of men come to be satisfied with the goodness of the Lord, and the fatness of his house; see ( Ephesians 5:14 ) ( Psalms 65:4 ) .

Mishle 20:13 In-Context

11 Even a na’ar (child) is known by his ways, whether his conduct be pure, and whether it be yashar (right).

12 The hearing ozen, and the seeing ayin, Hashem hath made even both of them.

13 Love not sheynah (sleep), lest thou come to poverty; open thine eynayim, and thou shalt have enough lechem.

14 It is good for nothing, it is naught, saith the koneh (buyer), but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.

15 There is zahav, and a multitude of rubies, but the sfatayim (lips) of da’as are a precious jewel.