Bible Strands
Luke 7:15
And the dead man sat up and began to speak! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus restores the revived young man to his mother immediately after commanding him to rise from the coffin. This action concludes the miracle sequence at the moment the funeral procession halts and the crowd prepares to respond.
The words — ἀνεκάθισεν (anekathisen) literally means "sat up," describing the dead man's immediate physical posture change. ἤρξατο (ērxato) means "began," marking the onset of the man's vocal function.
The thread — The narrative repeats the pattern of a prophet intervening with a dead body and returning the restored individual to his mother, as recorded in 1 Kings 17:23. The same prophetic lineage appears in 2 Kings 4:32 and 2 Kings 13:21, where Elisha's ministry and posthumous power address sudden death.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to note the immediate physical restoration and social reintegration of the dead man before acknowledging the crowd's awe. A reader must account for Jesus' direct authority over death without converting the reported events into abstract theology.
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
And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 13:21 Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet.
- 1 Kings 17:23 Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared.
- 2 Kings 4:32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed.