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Rise Up Early

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Concordances
Thompson Chain Reference
• Rising, Early
• Early Rising
Torrey Topical Textbook
• Early Rising
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Lexicons
• שָׁכַם

Shâkam (שָׁכַם, Strong's #7925), “to rise early, start early.” Found in both biblical and modern Hebrew, this verb occurs some 65 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. It is found for the first time in Gen. 19:2: “… And ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways.” As in this instance, many of the instances of the use of shâkam are in connection with traveling. Thus, it may be used with verbs of going (as above) or encamping (Judg. 7:1). The word is used some 30 times in reference to rising early in the morning, as in 1 Sam. 29:10, in which this phrase appears twice: “Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master’s servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart.”

A number of times in the Book of Jeremiah, “rising up early” is used with “speaking” (7:13; 25:3; 35:14), “sending” (7:25; 25:4; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4), “protesting” (11:7), or “teaching” (32:33). Ps. 127:2 gives some interesting advice while using this word: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”