And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.
Parallel translations
- WEB All were weeping and mourning her, but he said, “Don’t weep. She isn’t dead, but sleeping.”
- 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 11:4When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
- Luke 23:27And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
- Gen 27:34–35And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.
- 2 Sam 18:33And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!
- Exod 24:17And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
- Mark 5:38–39And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
- Zech 12:10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
- Gen 23:2And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
- Matt 11:17And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
- John 11:11–13These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
- Jer 9:17–21Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
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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.