Charles Spurgeon Commentary Luke 8:51-52

"And when he came to the house, he suffered not any man to enter in with him, save Peter, and John, and James, and the father of the maiden and her mother. And all were weeping, and bewailing her: but he said, Weep not; for she is not dead, but sleepeth." — Luke 8:51-52 (ASV)

And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.

They were so sure she was dead that they had actually hired the minstrels for her funeral – so Mark tells us – and the pipers, and the women that made those strange, Eastern lamentations were there, ready to inter her.