Mark 5:39

39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.”

Mark 5:39 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 5:39

And when he was come in
Into the house, within doors, into one of the apartments, and where the company of mourners, and the pipers, and mourning women were, singing and saying their doleful ditties:

he saith unto them, why make ye this ado and weep?
why all this tumult and noise? this grief and mourning, whether real or artificial?

the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth:
not but that she was truly dead, but not so as to remain under the power of death: she was like a person in a sleep, who would in a little time be awaked out of it: and which was as easily performed by Christ, as if she had been only in a natural sleep; (See Gill on Matthew 9:24).

Mark 5:39 In-Context

37 And He did not allow anyone to accompany Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.

38 When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly.

39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.”

40 And they laughed at Him. After He had put them all outside, He took the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and went in to see the child.

41 Taking her by the hand, Jesus said, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”