He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.”
Parallel translations
- WEB When he had entered in, he said to them, “Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep.”
- KJV And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
- NKJV When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.”
- NASB And after entering, He *said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child has not died, but is asleep.”
- NLT He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child 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
Jesus says the child is not dead but sleeping, provoking the mourners.
Overview
Jesus calls death 'sleep,' not denying her death but declaring that for him it is as easily reversed as waking from rest. From his vantage, death holds no finality. This teaches that for those whom Christ raises, death becomes a sleep from which he will surely awaken them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Acts 20:10But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and embraced him. “Do not be alarmed!” he said. “He is still alive!”
- 1 Th 5:10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
- John 11:11–13After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
- Dan 12:2And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- 1 Th 4:13–14Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.
- 1 Cor 11:30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
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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 5:39 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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