Mark 5:39

39 Jesus was abrupt: "Why all this busybody grief and gossip? This child isn't dead; she's sleeping."

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 He permitted no one to go in with him except Peter, James, and John.
38 They entered the leader's house and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and neighbors bringing in casseroles.
39 Jesus was abrupt: "Why all this busybody grief and gossip? This child isn't dead; she's sleeping."
40 Provoked to sarcasm, they told him he didn't know what he was talking about.
41 He clasped the girl's hand and said, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, get up."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.