What Does Luke 8:54 Mean?
But he threw them all outside, grasped her hand, and called out, saying, Girl, awaken.
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 put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.THE KEY
Before the command “Arise,” the crowd is sent outside and a hand takes hers: the scene moves from public commotion to a direct, personal summons.
THE MEANING
You are addressed by a scene in which a hand reaches the dead and a voice says, “Maid, arise.” The command is bodily and immediate: the one who cannot lift herself is called back into life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what is dead or finished is beyond anyone’s reach: here a hand reaches the dead, and a voice calls her to rise.
THE ROOT
ἔγειρε
egeire
GROWS FROM
ἐγερ-/ἐγειρ- (from ἐγείρω, egeirō)
To wake or awaken; to raise up.
“awaken” in this verse is egeire. The Greek verb behind “arise” also means to wake or be raised, including being raised from death. The word holds the command and the raising together: this is more than standing up by one’s own effort; it is being awakened into life.
ALSO GROWS
egersis: A rising; resurrection.
ἔγερσις
The related noun names the rising itself, showing that the command belongs to a word family for awakening and resurrection.
egerthēis: Having been raised or awakened.
ἐγερθείς
This form describes someone as the recipient of raising, echoing how the girl is called into life by another.
ἐκβαλών
ekbalōn
GROWS FROM
ἐκβάλλω (ekballō), from ἐκ (ek, out) + βάλλω (ballō, throw)
To cast or drive out.
“threw them all outside” in this verse is ekbalōn. The Greek word adds the image of casting the crowd outside. Before the hand takes hers and the call comes, the room is cleared of the onlookers.
ALSO GROWS
ballō: Throw or cast.
βάλλω
This is the verb within ἐκβάλλω; it gives the removal a sense of active casting.
ekbolē: A throwing out; a casting away.
ἐκβολή
The related noun can describe something cast overboard, underscoring the force of the removal before the intimate moment that follows.
κρατήσας
kratēsas
GROWS FROM
κρατέω (krateō), with the stem κρατ-
To take hold of or hold firmly; the related word family also carries the sense of strength and power.
“grasped her hand” in this verse is kratēsas. The verb describes a firm taking hold, not a passing touch. Its word family also gives Greek words for strength, so the handhold stands beside the call as an act of contact and strength.
ALSO GROWS
kratos: Strength, might, power.
κράτος
This related noun makes the strength carried by the word family audible in the act of taking her hand.
krataioō: To strengthen or make strong.
κραταιόω
This related verb connects the firm grasp with strengthening, just as the handhold comes before the call to rise.
THE PATTERN
Life is summoned from what seems final by a voice and power that reach what cannot raise itself.
Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.And when he had said these things, he cried out with a great voice, Lazarus, come out!But if the breath of him who raised Jesus from the dead makes its home in you, then he who raised the Anointed One from the dead will also make your death-bound bodies alive through his breath that makes its home in you.THE THREAD
But if the breath of him who raised Jesus from the dead makes its home in you, then he who raised the Anointed One from the dead will also make your death-bound bodies alive through his breath that makes its home in you.“Raised up” uses the same Greek verb, ἐγείρω (egeirō), as “arise” in Luke. Romans carries that raising into mortal bodies, widening the scene from one girl held by the hand to the life that reaches the reader.
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