What Does Luke 7:14 Mean?
And he came and touched the bier, and those carrying him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say to you, Wake.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.THE KEY
The Greek command translated “Arise” also carries the sense “be raised”: Jesus addresses the young man as someone who can receive life even while others carry him as dead.
THE MEANING
Death is fully visible: a body is being carried away, and Jesus touches the bier until the procession stops. His voice reaches the young man himself, and the one carried as dead rises into life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that death makes a person unreachable is undone: Jesus addresses the young man directly, and he rises.
THE ROOT
ἐγέρθητι
egérthēti
GROWS FROM
ἐγειρ- (egeir-), the Greek verb family of ἐγείρω
To awaken or raise; in this form, to be raised or rise.
“Wake” in this verse is egérthēti. ἐγέρθητι is a passive imperative, so “Arise” also carries the sense “be raised.” This word family also names resurrection itself, letting the command hold the act of rising and the wider reality of resurrection together.
ALSO GROWS
égersis: A raising; resurrection.
ἔγερσις
Matthew 27:53 uses this noun for resurrection, showing that the same word family names both the command to rise and the raising of the dead.
exegeírō: To raise up; awaken.
ἐξεγείρω
This related verb makes the act of raising explicit and shows how the family can describe someone being brought up into a new state.
ἔστησαν
éstēsan
GROWS FROM
στα- (sta-), the Greek stand-family of ἵστημι
To stand or set upright.
“stood still” in this verse is éstēsan. The bearers receive a standing verb, while the young man receives the raising verb; their halt is not his restoration. Yet this standing family also names resurrection as ἀνάστασις, adding an echo of life standing where death had laid someone down.
ALSO GROWS
anástasis: A standing up; resurrection.
ἀνάστασις
Built from ἀνά (aná, up) and the standing family, this word names resurrection as standing up again.
anístēmi: To stand up; rise; raise.
ἀνίστημι
This related verb is used for rising from the dead, showing how standing becomes language for movement out of death.
THE PATTERN
A divine word reaches the dead themselves, and bodily life breaks the stillness death has imposed.
And the LORD heard and responded to the voice of Elijah, and the living soul of the child returned into him, and he lived.So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, a very great army.For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so the Son makes alive whomever he wills.THE THREAD
For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so the Son makes alive whomever he wills.John uses ἐγείρω (egeírō, to raise) in “raiseth up the dead,” the same verb family as Luke’s “Arise.” Luke gives that raising a human face: Jesus speaks directly to the young man, and the word becomes an act before the reader.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us