Proverbs 20:13

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Open thine eyes.—Be up and stirring.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 20:13. Love not sleep — That is, immoderate sleep, nor sloth, or idleness. Take sleep because necessity requires it, not from any love to it; lest thou come to poverty — Lest thou reduce thyself to beggary. Persons that indulge themselves in sleep to excess, not only lose the time which they spend therein, but contract a listless, indolent disposition and habit, and are generally half asleep, or never well awake, and therefore, of course, come to poverty. Open thine eyes — Awake out of sleep, shake off sloth, and betake thyself to thy employment with diligence and vigour. Thou shalt be satisfied with bread — If thou do not grow rich, yet thou shalt have what is sufficient for the supply of thy own wants, and the wants of those dependant upon thee.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:7. A good man is not liable to uneasiness in contriving what he shall do, or in reflecting on what he has done, as those who walk in deceit. And his family fare better for his sake. 8. If great men are good men, they may do much good, and prevent very much evil. 9. Some can say, Through grace, we are cleaner than we have been; but it was the work of the Holy Spirit. 10. See the various deceits men use, of which the love of money is the root. The Lord will not bless what is thus gotten. 11. Parents should observe their children, that they may manage them accordingly. 12. All our powers and faculties are from God, and are to be employed for him. 13. Those that indulge themselves, may expect to want necessaries, which should have been gotten by honest labour. 14. Men use arts to get a good bargain, and to buy cheap; whereas a man ought to be ashamed of a fraud and a lie. 15. He that prefers true knowledge to riches, follows the ways of religion and happiness. If we really believed this truth, the word of God would be valued as it deserves, and the world would lose its tempting influence. 16. Those ruin themselves who entangle themselves in rash suretiship. Also those who are in league with abandoned women. Place no confidence in either. 17. Wealth gotten by fraud may be sweet, for the carnal mind takes pleasure in the success of wicked devices; but it will be bitter in the reflection. 18. Especially we need advice in spiritual warfare. The word and Spirit of God are the best counsellors in every point. 19. Those dearly buy their own praise, who put confidence in a man because he speaks fairly. 20. An undutiful child will become very miserable. Never let him expect any peace or comfort. 21. An estate suddenly raised, is often as suddenly ruined. 22. Wait on the Lord, attend his pleasure, and he will protect thee.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Open thine eyes - Be vigilant and active. That is the secret of prosperity.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. Activity and diligence contrasted with sloth (Pr 6:9; 10:11).

lest … poverty—literally, "be deprived of inheritance."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Love not sleep, i.e. immoderate sleep, or sloth, or idleness. Take sleep because necessity requires it, not from any love to it.

Open thine eyes; awake out of sleep, shake off sloth, and betake thyself to thy employment with diligence and rigour.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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; 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.

Geneva Study Bible

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. Comp. Proverbs 6:9-11; Proverbs 19:15.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - Love not sleep lest thou come to poverty (see Proverbs 6:9, etc.). The fate of the sluggard is handled again in Proverbs 23:21, as often before; e.g. Proverbs 12:11; Proverbs 19:15. The LXX., taking שֵׁנָה (shenah), "sleep," as perhaps connected with the verb שְׁנָה (shanah), translate, "Love not to rail, that thou be not exalted (ἵνα μὴ ἐξαρωῇς)," i.e. probably, "Do not calumniate others in order to raise yourself;" others translate, "lest thou be cut off." Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satired with bread. These words seem to connect this clause with ver. 12. God gives the faculty, but man must make due use thereof. The gnomist urges, "Do not slumber at your post, or sit downwardly waiting; but be up and doing, be wakeful and diligent, and then you shall prosper." Proverbs 20:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

13 Love not sleep, lest thou become poor;

     Open thine eyes, and have enough to eat.

What is comprehended in the first line here is presented in detail in Proverbs 6:9-11. The fut. Niph. of רוּשׁ, to become poor (cf. Proverbs 10:4), is formed metaplastically from ירשׁ, Proverbs 23:21; Proverbs 30:9, as at 1 Samuel 2:7; Hitzig compares (Arab.) ryth, which, however, means to loiter or delay, not to come back or down. The R. רש signifies either to be slack without support (cf. דּל), or to desire (cf. אבון, Arab. fkyr, properly hiscens, R. פק, as in פקח, to open widely, which here follows). Regarding the second imper. 13b, vid., Proverbs 3:4 : it has the force of a consequence, Las deine augen wacker sein, So wirstu brots gnug haben (Luth.) [Let thine eyes be open, so shalt thou have bread enough]. With these two proverbs of the eyes, the group beginning with Proverbs 20:8 rounds itself off.