All were weeping and mourning her, but he said, “Don’t weep. She isn’t dead, but sleeping.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.
- BSB Meanwhile, everyone was weeping and mourning for her. But Jesus said, “Stop weeping; she is not dead but asleep.”
- NKJV Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.”
- NASB Now they were all weeping and mourning for her; but He said, “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.”
- NLT The house was filled with people weeping and wailing, but he said, “Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Amid the mourners' weeping, Jesus says the girl is not dead but sleeping. He speaks of her death as a sleep from which He will wake her.
Overview
Jesus tells the mourners the child is sleeping, not because she has not truly died, but because for Him her death is no more permanent than sleep. The language reflects His authority to reverse it as easily as waking someone. It anticipates the Christian hope that, in Christ, death becomes a sleep awaiting resurrection.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- John 11:4But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”
- Luke 23:27A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him.
- Gen 27:34–35When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”
- 2 Sam 18:33The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate, and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son!”
- Exod 24:17The appearance of Yahweh’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
- Mark 5:38–39He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
- Zech 12:10I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.
- Gen 23:2Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
- Matt 11:17and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’
- John 11:11–13He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”
- Jer 9:17–21Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 8:52 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.