What Does Mark 5:43 Mean?
And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and said that something be given her to eat.
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 charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.THE KEY
The girl is kept from public knowledge, but her hunger is not: restored life is met with food.
THE MEANING
Restored life remains embodied: hunger is still there, and care meets it with food. The verse holds the hidden event apart from the ordinary provision that sustains her.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that restored life has moved beyond ordinary need: she still needs to eat, and that need is answered at once.
THE ROOT
δοθῆναι
dothēnai
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω- (do-/dō-)
Give, grant; place something into another’s hands.
“Given” comes from the verb for giving or granting, so the command makes provision an intentional act. The girl’s restoration is joined to something concrete she receives: food.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: To give, grant.
δίδωμι
The verse’s “to be given” is formed from this verb; the command makes her provision explicit.
dosis: A giving; a gift or provision.
δόσις
This related noun keeps the movement from giving to what is received visible: her food is deliberately supplied.
THE PATTERN
When life is depleted or restored, nourishment meets the person in the body and gives strength for what comes next.
And the messenger of the LORD turned back a second time, and touched him, and said, "Rise and eat, for the road is too great for you."And wine that gladdens the heart of a frail one, and oil to make his face shine, and bread that holds up the heart of a frail one.And when he had taken food, he was strengthened. Then Saul was with the disciples at Damascus for some days.THE THREAD
And her breath turned back, and she stood up at once, and he commanded that she be given food.Luke’s parallel account uses the same Greek verb, δίδωμι (didōmi, to give), in the command to provide her food. The repeated wording joins restored life to tangible care for the body.
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