And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
This scene takes place in Galilee, the northern region of Israel where Jesus spent much of His ministry. Jairus was a synagogue ruler — a respected religious official responsible for overseeing worship in his community. He came to Jesus in desperation because his twelve-year-old daughter was dying. Jesus agreed to go with him but was slowed by a pressing crowd along the way. Before they arrived, messengers came with devastating news: the girl had died, and there was no point troubling Jesus further. Jesus went in anyway. He cleared the room of mourners, took the child's hand, and spoke to her in Aramaic — the everyday language of ordinary people. 'Talitha koum' literally means 'Little girl, get up.' The word 'talitha' is a tender, informal term, like calling a child 'little lamb.' She stood up and walked.
Jesus, You walked into a room where everyone had already given up, and You spoke life in the quietest, most personal way. I bring You the things in my life that feel past the point of rescue. I don't know what You'll do with them. But I trust that You still walk toward closed doors. Amen.
Mark's Gospel was almost certainly based on the eyewitness account of Peter, and Peter remembered the exact words — not the Greek translation, not the official version, but the Aramaic that actually came out of Jesus's mouth in that room: *Talitha koum.* In a house full of professional mourners wailing for a dead child, Jesus took her cold hand and spoke to her the way you'd wake a child on a slow Saturday morning. Not a proclamation. Not a formal decree. Just — *little girl, get up.* There is a staggering intimacy in that. As if death itself was simply something to be gently roused from. You may be in a place that feels like a waiting room after the worst news — where the messengers have already come, where the mourners have gathered, where the thing you prayed for seems definitively over. Jairus had no logical reason to keep hoping after his daughter died. The situation was settled. And yet Jesus walked past the finality and into the room anyway. He doesn't always reverse the loss — that tension is real and worth sitting with honestly, not explained away. But He is never stopped by what looks irreversible. Whatever in your life feels past saving — a relationship, your sense of purpose, your faith itself — Jesus still walks toward closed rooms. And sometimes He speaks into them in the quietest, most personal voice imaginable.
Mark preserved the actual Aramaic words Jesus spoke — 'Talitha koum' — rather than just the translation. Why do you think that detail was remembered and recorded, and what does it tell you about the nature of this moment?
When the messengers arrived to say it was too late, Jairus was told to stop 'troubling' Jesus. Have you ever received news that made hope feel not just difficult but foolish? How did you respond?
Jesus used a tender, informal word — 'little girl' — in what could have been a formal, dramatic moment. What does the way Jesus speaks to people throughout the Gospels reveal about His character?
How does this story affect the way you show up for someone in your life who is in a situation that feels hopeless — what do you say, and just as importantly, what do you resist saying?
Is there something you've mentally filed as 'too late' or 'too far gone'? What would it look like to bring it to Jesus anyway — not because you're sure of the outcome, but because He still walks toward closed rooms?
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Genesis 1:3
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Philippians 3:21
And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
Luke 7:15
And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
Luke 7:14
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Romans 4:17
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
John 5:28
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Matthew 14:31
Taking the child's hand, He said [tenderly] to her, "Talitha kum!"—which translated [from Aramaic] means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"
AMP
Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
ESV
Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, 'Talitha kum!' (which translated means, 'Little girl, I say to you, get up!').
NASB
He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
NIV
Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
NKJV
Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!”
NLT
He clasped the girl's hand and said, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, get up."
MSG