he said

The Greek that is translated in English as “he said” or similar is translated in Shuar as ” but although he knew the young child was really dead, he said to them.” Commentaries are generally agreed that Jesus’ statement in this verse was not made to deny the actual death of the girl, but rather to suggest an immediate resurrection. In some languages, a literal and unexplained rendering of the statement by Jesus “the child is not dead” implied that he was not aware of her condition. In another it implied that he was attempting to deceive the people into thinking she was just sleeping. This attempted deceit was interpreted as an attempt to quiet the crowd and make them willing to go outside. (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

Raising a Girl (image)

Painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Copyright by the Catholic University Peking, China

Text under painting translated from Literary Chinese into English:
Raising a Girl
Proof that Jesus is the true God

Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.

complete verse (Luke 8:52)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 8:52:

  • Noongar: “All the people were weeping and grieving for the child. Jesus said, ‘Don’t weep! The child is not dead, she is only sleeping.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “All the people gathered in the house of Yairus cried and wailed, wailing-for that dead child. Yesus said: ‘Do not cry any longer. She is not dead, she is just sleeping.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “All the people there were weeping and wailing because of the child. But Isa said to them, ‘Don’t weep. The child is not dead but just asleep.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And at that time all the people who were gathered there, they were milling around and crying because they were in grief. And Jesus said to them, ‘Don’t cry for her, because that child is not dead, but rather, she is only sleeping!'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “All the people who were there, they were crying-for-her mourning. But Jesus told them, ‘That’s enough, don’t be crying, because this young-lady, she isn’t dead, she is only sleeping.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “All the people there were crying. They were crying about that one who had died. Jesus spoke, saying to those people, ‘Don’t cry. That child really isn’t dead. She’s just asleep.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 8:52

Exegesis:

eklaion de pantes kai ekoptonto autēn ‘and all were weeping and beating their breasts for her.’ Note the durative aspect of the imperfect tense. pantes is best taken to refer to the people in the house. For klaiō cf. on 7.32.

koptomai (also 23.27) ‘to beat one’s breast as an act of mourning,’ ‘to mourn greatly.’

mē klaiete ‘stop weeping.’

ou gar apethanen alla katheudei ‘for she has not died but she is asleep.’ The difference between apethanen and tethnēken (v. 49) is that the former refers to the moment of dying as a punctiliar event and the latter to her being dead as a permanent situation. katheudei (also 22.46) may refer to natural sleep, or, figuratively to the sleep of death, preferably the former because of the contrast with apethanen.

Translation:

Were weeping and bewailing her, or, ‘were weeping and wailing because of her,’ cf. ‘called cried for her’ (Sranan Tongo, using an idiom for loud lamentation). The pronoun goes with both verbs, which are closely connected syntactically, and also semantically, cf. on 7.32 and reference; one of them may better be subordinated, cf. e.g. ‘wept-over her, wailing’ (Balinese). To bewail must often be rendered by the same term as used for “to wail” in 7.32, although the Greek verb used here seems to refer to outward behaviour, gestures etc., suggestive of grief and mourning rather than to sounds or songs of lamentation.

Do not weep, or, ‘stop weeping,’ ‘weep no more,’ mentioning only one of the preceding verbs, but referring to the situation in its totality.

She is not dead but sleeping is strongly contrastive, cf. ‘she has not died, (on-the-contrary) she is asleep.’

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.