Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 5:41

"And taking the child by the hand, he saith unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise." — Mark 5:41 (ASV)

Jesus stood by the side of the child, took her hand, and spoke the Aramaic words “Talitha koum” (translated by Mark for his Gentile readers). Aramaic was the language of Palestine in the first century A. D. and was probably the language Jesus and his disciples normally spoke. However, since they came from Galilee, an area surrounded by Gentile Decapolis and by Syrian Phoenicia, it seems likely that they also knew Greek and on occasion spoke Greek.