And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.
Parallel translations
- WEB They were ridiculing him, knowing that she was dead.
- BSB And they laughed at Him, knowing that she was dead.
- NKJV And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.
- NASB And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died.
- NLT But the crowd laughed at him because they all knew she had died.
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
The mourners laugh at Jesus, certain the girl is dead. Their ridicule confirms the reality of her death.
Overview
The crowd's scornful laughter shows they knew she had genuinely died. Their mockery, far from undermining the miracle, establishes that no mere recovery follows. It heightens the wonder of what Jesus is about to do.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Isa 53:3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
- Luke 16:14And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
- John 19:33–35But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
- Ps 22:7All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
- Job 12:4I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
- Job 17:2Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
- John 11:39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
- Mark 15:44–45And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
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 8:53 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.