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G1853 · Greek · New Testament
ἔξυπνος
exupnos
Adjective
awake; roused from sleep; not sleeping

Definition

Exupnos means 'out of sleep' — thoroughly awake. It appears in Acts 20:9 after Eutychus fell from the third-floor window during Paul's long sermon: 'and he was taken up dead.' Paul embraced him and said, 'Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.' Luke then notes that the young man was 'taken up alive' (zonta). But the prior note — that Eutychus was 'overcome by sleep' (kataperomenon hupno) — gives exupnos its context as the state of being fully roused.

Usage & Theological Significance

The Eutychus episode is more than a cautionary tale about long sermons. It is a resurrection narrative embedded in Acts — the third such miracle (after the widow's son in Luke 7 and Lazarus in John 11). Paul's act of embracing the dead boy echoes Elijah (1 Kings 17) and Elisha (2 Kings 4). Life is restored; the congregation is comforted; the Lord's Supper is celebrated. The one who fell asleep and fell from height is raised and restored to the community of faith. The final exupnos will be universal when the trumpet sounds.

Key Verses

Acts 20:9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.
Acts 20:10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, 'Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.'
1 Kings 17:21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, 'O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again.'
1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.
Romans 13:11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

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