Bible Strands
Mark 5:25
And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator places a specific woman within the pressing crowd that followed Jesus after He agreed to go with Jairus. This moment occurs as Jesus moves through a densely packed group, establishing the physical proximity that frames the subsequent encounter.
The words — The phrase ἐν ῥύσει αἵματος (en rhusei haimatos) literally means "in a flux of blood." The participle οὖσα (ousa), "being," emphasizes her continuous state rather than a single event.
The thread — This condition parallels the impurity regulations in Leviticus 15:25 and appears in parallel accounts in Matthew 9:20 and Luke 8:43. Each gospel places her within the context of Jesus’ ministry and physical touch.
Why it lands — The text establishes a prolonged physical crisis that requires immediate attention before any healing occurs. It demands that the reader recognize the concrete reality of her suffering prior to evaluating the subsequent intervention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
Cross-references
- Leviticus 15:25 When a woman has a discharge of her blood for many days at a time other than her menstrual period, or if it continues beyond her period, she will be unclean all the days of her unclean discharge, just as she is during the days of her menstruation.
- Luke 8:43 including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.
- Matthew 9:20 Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak.
- Leviticus 15:19 When a woman has a discharge consisting of blood from her body, she will be unclean due to her menstruation for seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening.
- John 5:5 One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
- Luke 13:11 and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight.
- Acts 4:22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
- Acts 9:33 There he found a man named Aeneas who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years.