XXa-wak yaqats, "to waken"; `ur, "to rouse up" from sleep; egeiro, "to arouse from sleep"): The ordinary terms for awaking from natural slumber: as of Jacob at Bethel (Gen 28:16); of Solomon at Gibeon (1 Ki 3:15); of Jesus in the storm-tossed boat (Lk 8:24). Used figure with striking effect of awaking from mental, moral and spiritual sleep: as when Deborah calls upon herself to awake to the fervor and eloquence of poetry (Jdg 5:12); of Zions awaking to moral vigor and beauty (Isa 52:1); of waking from spiritual death (Eph 5:14); from the grave in resurrection (Dan 12:2). Poetically used of the rising north wind (Song 4:16); of music (Ps 108:2); of the sword in battle (Zec 13:7); of a lovers affection (Song 2:7); of God Himself responding to prayer (Ps 59:4). Also used of moral awaking, as from drunkenness: eknepho, "to become sober" (compare Joel 1:5).
Dwight M. Pratt