What Does the Bible Say About Sleep?

Proverbs 3:24 ESV / 149 helpful votes

If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Psalm 4:8 ESV / 101 helpful votes

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 127:2 ESV / 90 helpful votes

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Psalm 132:4-5 ESV / 26 helpful votes

I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Proverbs 20:13 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

Proverbs 6:10 ESV / 21 helpful votes

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

Proverbs 6:9 ESV / 17 helpful votes

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

John 11:12 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

Matthew 9:24 ESV / 7 helpful votes

He said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.

Matthew 8:24 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.

Job 14:12 ESV / 7 helpful votes

So a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

Luke 8:23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.

Mark 4:38 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Revelation 21:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

John 11:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”

Ezekiel 18:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Revelation 20:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

John 14:1-3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Matthew 8:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

Isaiah 65:21-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them.

Isaiah 35:3-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

Ecclesiastes 9:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Psalm 115:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence.

Genesis 2:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

John 5:28-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

John 5:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice

Luke 8:52 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.”

Mark 5:39 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

Matthew 10:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Isaiah 8:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV / 1 helpful vote

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ...

Philippians 1:23 ESV / 1 helpful vote

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Romans 6:23 ESV / 1 helpful vote

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Luke 16:19-31 ESV / 1 helpful vote

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ...

Ecclesiastes 12:7 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Psalm 146:4 ESV / 1 helpful vote

When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

Job 14:13 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

Genesis 19:1-38 ESV / 1 helpful vote

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” ...

41 Bible Verses about Sleep