Bible Strands
Matthew 8:25
The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The disciples approach Jesus during a violent storm that has engulfed their boat and cry out to Him for rescue. They address Him as Lord while declaring their imminent destruction.
The words — The participle προσελθόντες (proselthontes) literally means "having come to," indicating the disciples' physical approach to Jesus. The verb ἤγειραν (ēgeiran) translates as "they awoke," marking the moment they interrupted His sleep to issue their plea.
The thread — The narrative echoes Jonah 1:6, where a ship's captain rouses a sleeping prophet during a maritime crisis, and resonates with Psalm 44:22 regarding facing death while identified with God. It also parallels 2 Chronicles 14:11 in its pattern of crying out to the Lord for deliverance against overwhelming odds.
Why it lands — The text records the disciples' desperate acknowledgment of Jesus' authority to intervene in their physical peril. It requires the reader to recognize that the plea for rescue is directed specifically to the sleeping Christ, framing faith as a response to divine presence in crisis.
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 his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
Cross-references
- Jonah 1:6 The 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.”
- 2 Chronicles 14:11 Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”
- Psalms 44:22 Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
- Mark 4:38 But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?”
- 2 Chronicles 20:12 Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast army that comes against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
- Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
- Luke 8:24 The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and they subsided, and all was calm.
- Psalms 10:1 Why, O LORD, do You stand far off? Why do You hide in times of trouble?