Luke 8:50
in Luke 8But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Do not be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But Jesus hearing it, answered him, Fear not: only believe, and she shall be made whole.
KJV
But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.
⋯
This verse in Luke 8
Commentary
13 notes on this verse(Orat. in Pass. et Crucem. Dom. 4.) Our Lord requires faith from those who invoke Him, not because He needs the assistance of others, (for He is both the Lord and Giver of faith,) but not to seem to bestow His gifts according to His acceptance of persons, He shows that He favours those who believe, lest they should receive benefits without faith, and lose them by unbelief. For when He bestows a favour, He wishes it to last, and when He heals, the cure to remain undisturbed.
This site's exposition
Thy daughter is dead
on Luke 8:49-50
While he yet spake, one comes from the ruler's house saying, Thy daughter is dead, trouble not the Master, the delay's cost now apparent, an interruption that looks fatal. Jesus answers before Jairus can, Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole, meeting the report of death with an instruction rather than a denial of the fact. The bench reads the woman just healed as the case in point standing beside Jairus as the word is spoken, a faith just vindicated addressed now to a harder trial.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Ephrem the SyrianCOMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 7.27A · Written before 373.
proposed
When the woman was healed, our Lord said, "Who touched me?" so that she could profess her healing before everyone. Also in the case of the little girl, he said, "She is sleeping" so that the spectators might testify that she was dead, and then …
And afterwards there met them from the ruler of the synagogue's house a messenger, saying: "Thy daughter is dead: trouble not the Teacher." What, then, was Christ's answer, seeing that He possesses universal sovereignty; that He is Lord of life and death; and by the all-powerful determination of His will accomplishes whatsoever He desires? He saw the man oppressed with the weight of sorrow, swooning, and stupefied, and all but despairing of the possibility of his daughter being rescued from death. For misfortunes are able to disturb even an apparently well-constituted mind, and to estrange it from its settled convictions. To aid him, therefore, He gives him a kind and saving word, fit to sustain him in his fainting state, and work in him an unwavering faith, saying, "Fear not: only believe, and she shall live."
(de Con. Ev. l. ii. c. 28.) But since Matthew states the ruler of the synagogue to have told our Lord that his daughter was not on the point of death but quite dead, and Luke and Mark say, that she was not yet dead, nay, even go so far as to say that there came some afterwards, who told her death; we must examine, lest they should seem to be at variance. And we must understand that for the sake of brevity, Matthew chose rather to say, that our Lord was asked to do what it is obvious He did, namely, to raise the dead. For our Lord needs not the words of the father concerning his daughter, but what is more important, his wishes. Certainly, if the other two or any one of them had mentioned that the father had said what those who came from the house said, that Jesus need not be troubled because the maid was dead, His words which Matthew has related would seem to be at variance with his thoughts. But now to those who brought that message, and said that the Master need not come, it is not said that the father assented. The Lord therefore did not blame him as distrustful, but the more strongly confirms his belief. As it follows, But when Jesus heard it, he answered the father of the girl, Believe only, &c.
The Medieval Church2 voices
But when Jesus heard this, he answered the father of the girl, "Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved." The father of the girl is taken as the assembly of the doctors of the law, about whom the Lord said: The …
Or this is even to this day said by those who see the state of the synagogue so destitute that they do not believe it can be restored, and therefore think nothing of praying for its resurrection. But those things which are impossible with men are possible with God. Therefore said the Lord to him, Fear not, only believe, and she shall be made whole. (Luke 18:27.) The father of the girl is taken for the assembly of the doctors of the Law, which if it were willing to believe, the Synagogue also which is subject to it will be safe.
6 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, as regards the strengthening of faith through divine persuasion, it is added: But Jesus, having heard this word, which namely could shake the mind of the ruler of the synagogue, because, according to that passage of Proverbs 26, "the words of a whisperer are …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
What Christ made the constant business of his life --it was preaching; in that work he was indefatigable, and went about doing good (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
But when Jesus heard it,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
The verses we have now read, contain one of the three great instances which the Holy Spirit has thought fit to record of our Lord restoring a dead person to life. The other two instances are those of Lazarus and the widow's son at Nain. There seems no reason to doubt that our Lord raised others beside these three. But these three cases are especially described as patterns of His almighty power. One was a young girl — who had just breathed her last. One was a young man — who was being carried to his burial.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
The verses we have now read, contain one of the three great instances which the Holy Spirit has thought fit to record of our Lord restoring a dead person to life. The other two instances are those of Lazarus and the widow's son at Nain. There seems no reason to doubt that our Lord raised others beside these three. But these three cases are especially described as patterns of His almighty power. One was a young girl — who had just breathed her last. One was a young man — who was being carried to his burial. One was a man — who had already laid four days in the grave. In all three cases alike, we see life at once restored at Christ's command. Let us notice, in the verses before us — how universal is the dominion which death holds over mankind. We see death coming to a rich man's house, and tearing from him the desire of his eyes with a stroke! Such tidings as these, are the bitterest cups which we have to drink in this world. Nothing cuts so deeply into man's heart — as to part with beloved ones, and lay them in the grave. Few griefs are so crushing and heavy — as the grief of a parent over the death of an only child. Death is indeed a cruel enemy! He makes no distinction in his attacks. He comes to the rich man's mansion — as well as to the poor man's cottage. He does not spare the young, the strong, and the beautiful — any more than the old, the infirm, and the grey-haired. Not all the gold of Australia, nor all the skill of doctors — can keep the hand of death from our bodies, in the day of his power. When the appointed hour comes, and God permits him to smite — then our worldly schemes must be broken off, and our darlings must be taken away and buried out of our sight. These thoughts are melancholy, and few like to hear of them. The subject of death is one that men shut their eyes at, and refuse to look at.
Modern Voices1 voice
Jesus did not say just, “Do not be afraid.” He knew very well that fear is part of man’s make-up. He said, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | But | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| Ἰησοῦς | iesous | Jesus | G2424 → | 908 times |
| ἀκούσας | akousas | having heard | G191 → | 425 times |
| ἀπεκρίθη | apekrithe | He answered | G611 → | 231 times |
| αὐτῷ | auto | to him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| μὴ | me | Not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| φοβοῦ· | phobou | do fear; | G5399 → | 95 times |
| μόνον | monon | only | G3441 → | 110 times |
| πίστευσον, | pisteuson | do believe, | G4100 → | 237 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| σωθήσεται. | sothesetai | she will be saved. | G4982 → | 105 times |
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
δὲBut
deG1161 →2765 times
ἸησοῦςJesus
iesousG2424 →908 times
ἀκούσαςhaving heard
akousasG191 →425 times
ἀπεκρίθηHe answered
apekritheG611 →231 times
αὐτῷto him
autoG846 →5565 times
μὴNot
meG3361 →1066 times
φοβοῦ·do fear;
phobouG5399 →95 times
μόνονonly
mononG3441 →110 times
πίστευσον,do believe,
pisteusonG4100 →237 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
σωθήσεται.she will be saved.
sothesetaiG4982 →105 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 11:25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 4:14
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.
- John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- 1 John 5:11–12
And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
- John 1:4
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
- Romans 8:10–11
But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:14
Through
John 11:40Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
it leads to
- John 11:4
When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
- John 11:23–26
“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.
- Romans 4:17–25
As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead…
- John 11:4
Where this verse is studied
About Luke
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Athanasius of Alexandria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Luke; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 8; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 46; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 7.27A; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Luke; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Reinhard Bonnke, Faith: The Link with God’s Power (CfaN Bible study series).