But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?”
Parallel translations
- WEB He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?”
- KJV And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
- NKJV But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
- NASB And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
- NLT Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
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
Jesus sleeps peacefully in the stern while the frightened disciples wake him, asking if he cares that they are perishing.
Overview
Jesus' sleep amid the storm displays both his true humanity and his trustful rest in the Father. The disciples' anxious question reveals their fear and their imperfect grasp of who he is. Their cry, though faltering, rightly turns to Jesus, the only one able to save them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- 1 Pet 5:7Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
- Heb 4:15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.
- Matt 8:25The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
- Isa 54:6–8For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.
- Luke 8:24The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and they subsided, and all was calm.
- Isa 40:27–28Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?
- Isa 51:9–10Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
- Isa 64:12After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
- Job 8:5–6But if you would earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,
- 1 Kgs 18:27–29At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”
- Ps 77:7–10“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?
- Isa 49:14–16But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”
- John 4:6Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
- Ps 10:1–2Why, O LORD, do You stand far off? Why do You hide in times of trouble?
- Ps 44:23–24Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
- Isa 63:15Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.
- Ps 22:1–2For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?
- Heb 2:17For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.
- Lam 3:8Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 4:38 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
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