In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

Acts 9:36-39 NIV

Tunics, garments, coats—weaver for the widows,

her shuttles and needles flew like leaping antelopes,

like her name, Dorcas or Tabitha or gazelle.

Through the warp and woof of her loom, orchestrating

second skins against the cold, giving widows

with no resources a second chance.

And Peter, summoned to that port city room

where she fell ill and died,

spoke to her: “Tabitha, arise.” She opened her eyes.

Having called on the Holy Spirit

to reweave and mend her flesh

on an invisible embroidery frame.

He offered her his hand and led her

to leap up, like the gazelle

she was, to again run this sacred race

For the rest of her earthly life.

Tabitha                        Dorcas                         gazelle

Simon                          Peter                            rock

Joppa                           Jaffa                            Tel Aviv

Aramaic                      Greek                          Hebrew

life                               sickness                       death

raised from death        second death               resurrection