רָדַם (ra.dam)
ra.dam
to sleep
H:VQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 6 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:V
Word Overview
The Hebrew verb radam describes a state of deep, heavy sleep or unconsciousness. Unlike ordinary rest, this term conveys a profound torpor where a person is completely unaware of their surroundings. It appears in six verses, often highlighting moments when individuals are caught off guard by divine intervention or natural events.
In Jonah 1:6, the ship’s captain finds the prophet radam, fast asleep amid a violent storm. This usage emphasizes the stark contrast between the chaos outside and the prophet’s complete detachment from reality. Similarly, in Daniel 2:19, the king’s wise men experience this deep slumber before receiving revelation, underscoring human helplessness without divine insight.
Proverbs 6:10 uses radam to depict laziness, where one sinks into a sleep so heavy it becomes an obstacle to responsibility. The word captures not just physical rest but a spiritual or moral unresponsiveness. Translators often render it "sleep" or "slumber," though the Hebrew sense carries more weight than simple tiredness.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The Hebrew word radam describes a sleep so deep it borders on unconsciousness, a state where one is completely unaware of their surroundings. It appears in Scripture to mark moments when human awareness fails, whether through exhaustion, divine intervention, or spiritual neglect. In Jonah 1:6, the prophet lies fast asleep while a violent storm rages around him, highlighting a stark detachment from the crisis at hand.
This imagery invites us to examine our own spiritual alertness. While physical rest is necessary, radam warns against a heaviness that blinds us to God’s activity or our responsibilities. It reminds us that we are called to be watchful, not passive observers in our own lives. When we feel overwhelmed or distracted, this word encourages a return to conscious reliance on God rather than retreating into indifference.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 6 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- sleeping1×
- dazed1×
- and/ he had fallen fast asleep1×
- [was] sleeping1×
- [one who] sleeps1×
- I was dazed1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- נִרְדָּ֥ם3×
- נִרְדָּ֑ם1×
- נִרְדַּ֥מְתִּי1×
- וַ/יֵּרָדַֽם\׃1×
Key Verses
-
Jonah 1:6
So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
The captain uses the term to rebuke Jonah for his dangerous detachment from the storm, calling him a 'sleeper' who needs to wake up and pray.
-
Daniel 8:18
Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me and set me upright.
Daniel falls into this deep sleep when encountering a divine messenger, showing how overwhelming spiritual realities can render human senses powerless.
-
Judges 4:21
Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died.
The term describes Sisera’s vulnerable state as he sleeps in Jael’s tent, illustrating how unexpected events can occur when one is completely unaware.