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Mark 14:37

in Mark 14

Then Jesus returned and found them sleeping. “Simon, are you asleep?” He asked. “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest thou not watch one hour?

KJV

And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?

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This verse in Mark 14

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Bede

On the Gospel of Mark · Written before 735.

And coming, he found them sleeping, and said to Peter: Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? He who had previously said: Even if all are scandalized, I will never be scandalized, now, in the greatness of his sorrow, cannot overcome sleep.

This site's exposition

Simon, are you asleep?

on Mark 14:37-38

Jesus asks Simon by name, Were you not able to keep watch for one hour, though Simon had just promised to die with Him. Peter meets the temptation Jesus warns of within hours in the courtyard and falls.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

There follows: And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping. For as they are asleep in mind, so also in body. 1But after His prayer, the Lord coming, and seeing His disciples sleeping, rebukes Peter alone. Wherefore it goes on: And saith unto Peter, Simon, steepest thou? couldest not thou watch with me one hour? As if He had said, If thou couldest not watch one hour with me, how wilt thou be able to despise death, thou who promisest to die with me?

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Mark · Written before 1107.

proposed

After the prayer, coming to the disciples, He found those three disciples sleeping; but He rebukes Peter alone, as if saying to him: did you not promise to die with Me, yet could not watch even one hour — and can you despise death?

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And he cometh and findeth them sleeping,.... His three disciples, Peter, James, and John: and saith unto Peter; particularly, he having so lately asserted, with so much confidence, his love to Christ, and close attachment to him: Simon, sleepest thou? Christ calls him by the name he first went by, and not by that which he had given him, Cephas, or Peter; he not now having that firmness and constancy, though he boasted of it, which answers to that name: couldst thou not watch one hour?

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

24, 25 ); and behold, he comes quickly, Rev. iii. As those whom Christ loves he rebukes when they do amiss, so those whom he rebukes he counsels and comforts. It was a very wise and faithful word of advice which Christ here gave to his disciples;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The history of our Lord's agony in the garden of Gethsemane is a deep and mysterious passage of Scripture. It contains things which the wisest divines cannot fully explain. Yet it has upon its surface plain truths of most momentous importance. Let us mark, in the first place, how keenly our Lord felt the burden of a world's sin . It is written that He began to be filled with horror and deep distress.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

The history of our Lord's agony in the garden of Gethsemane is a deep and mysterious passage of Scripture. It contains things which the wisest divines cannot fully explain. Yet it has upon its surface plain truths of most momentous importance. Let us mark, in the first place, how keenly our Lord felt the burden of a world's sin . It is written that He began to be filled with horror and deep distress. He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death," and that "he fell on the ground, and prayed, that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him." There is only one reasonable explanation of these expressions. It was no mere fear of the physical suffering of death, which drew them from our Lord's lips. It was a sense of the enormous load of human guilt, which began at that time to press upon Him in a peculiar way. It was a sense of the unutterable weight of our sins and transgressions which were then specially laid upon Him. He was being "made a curse for us." He was bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows according to the covenant He came on earth to fulfill. He was being "made sin for us who Himself knew no sin." His holy nature felt acutely the hideous burden laid upon Him. These were the reasons of His extraordinary sorrow. We ought to see in our Lord's agony in Gethsemane the exceeding sinfulness of sin. It is a subject on which the thoughts of professing Christians are far below what they should be. The careless, light way in which such sins as swearing, Sabbath-breaking, lying, and the like, are often spoken of, is a painful evidence of the low condition of men's moral feelings. Let the recollection of Gethsemane have a sanctifying effect upon us. Whatever others do, let us never "make a mock at sin." Let us mark, in the second place, what an example our Lord gives us of the importance of prayer in time of trouble .

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Saith unto Peter - See on Mat 26:40 (note).

The words behind it

17 Greek words

Every 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.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

14 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Matthew 26:40Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter.8 worksMark 14:40–41And again Jesus returned and found them sleeping—for their eyes were heavy. And they did not know what to answer Him.3 works2 Samuel 16:17“Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”3 worksLuke 22:45–46When Jesus rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.3 worksLuke 9:31–32They appeared in glory and spoke about His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.3 worksHebrews 12:3Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.3 works
The other 8 cross-references, with their words ▾
Matthew 25:5When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.3 worksMark 14:29–31Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I never will.”3 worksMark 13:36Otherwise, he may arrive without notice and find you sleeping.3 worksJeremiah 12:5“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?2 works1 Thessalonians 5:6–8So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober.2 worksPsalms 69:20Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.2 worksJonah 1:6The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”1 worksLuke 12:41“Lord,” said Peter, “are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Matthew 26:40

    Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter.

    it leads to

    • Luke 22:45

      When Jesus rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

    • Matthew 26:43

      And again Jesus returned and found them sleeping—for their eyes were heavy.

    • Luke 9:32

      Meanwhile Peter and his companions were overcome by sleep, but when they awoke, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with Him.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 16:17

    “Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 19:25

      And he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, who asked him, “Mephibosheth, why did you not go with me?”

    • 2 Samuel 15:32–37

      When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head.

    • Deuteronomy 32:6

      Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?

    • Proverbs 18:24

      A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

    • Proverbs 17:17

      A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Where this verse is studied

About Mark

The Judas Kiss — Gustave Doré (engraving), public domain
The Judas Kiss — Gustave Doré (engraving), public domain
Mark: the study guide →Read Mark 14 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, On the Gospel of Mark; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pseudo-Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.

Read on in Mark 14 →