“Are you still sleeping…?” The verse can be translated with a statement, i.e., “sleep on now…” or with a question, “Are you still sleeping…?” Commentators are divided, but most of them agree that, since Christ said very shortly after that, “Rise and let us go” that if Christ did in fact make a statement, then it is irony, not a serious statement. We have decided to translate the verse as a question given the following:

A) The words can legitimately be translated as a question.

B) Irony is hard to detect in a book and usually confuses the reader.

C) Christ obviously did not mean for them to sleep since he spoke to them (if they were sleeping and he wanted them to continue sleeping, he would not have woken them up just to tell them to sleep on) and since he told them to get up in the very next verse.

“Look!” The Greek word is idou (#2400 ἰδού), and it is used to get our attention. See commentary on Matthew 1:20.