Bible Strands
John 11:21
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Martha addresses Jesus after hearing He is approaching, having gone out to meet Him while Mary remains indoors.
The words — εἶπεν (eipen) marks the act of speaking, and κύριε (kurie) functions as the direct address "Lord."
The thread — The confession echoes the grief of bereaved relatives in Matthew 9:18 and 1 Kings 17:18, and mirrors a parallel declaration Mary will make in John 11:32.
Why it lands — The statement forces a reader to weigh human regret over absent intervention against the conviction that divine presence alters outcomes.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Cross-references
- Matthew 9:18 While Jesus was saying these things, a synagogue leader came and knelt before Him. “My daughter has just died,” he said. “But come and place Your hand on her, and she will live.”
- John 11:32 When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
- 1 Kings 17:18 “O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”
- Psalms 78:19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
- Luke 7:6 So Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends with the message: “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to have You come under my roof.
- Luke 8:49 While He was still speaking, someone arrived from the house of the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he told Jairus. “Do not bother the Teacher anymore.”
- John 4:47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.
- John 11:37 But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”
- Luke 7:13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.”
- Psalms 78:41 Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.