26 · Action of Jesus

The Woman with Bleeding

Mark 5:21–34

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An adult woman reaches through a dense crowd and gently touches the edge of Jesus' garment while Jesus stops and turns around.

After twelve years of bleeding, a woman reaches Jesus through the crowd.

Was it Jesus' clothing that healed the woman?

Choose a perspective

There is no score – choose the perspective you find closest and discuss why.

Discuss: Why seek the woman after she is healed?

After your discussion: compare with our assessment

Our assessment

A takes both the touch and Jesus' own interpretation seriously. Mark says that the woman touches Jesus' clothes and that power goes out from him, but Jesus' final words are not “my clothes healed you.” He says, “Your faith has saved you.” C captures how Jesus deliberately turns an anonymous healing into a personal encounter. The woman approaches from behind and could have disappeared into the crowd, but Jesus seeks her out.

26 · Mark 5:21–34

Go deeper

Text & context

Full translation

21 When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him: “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be saved and live.” 24 Jesus went with him, and a large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 There was a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered much under many physicians and had spent everything she had without receiving any benefit. Instead, she had become worse. 27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she was saying, “If I only touch his clothes, I will be saved.” 29 Immediately the flow of her blood dried up, and she knew in her body that she had been healed from her affliction. 30 Jesus immediately perceived within himself that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he kept looking around to see the one who had done this. 33 The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came afraid and trembling. She fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be well from your affliction.”

Translated from the Greek text – SBLGNT

What is happening here?
The woman's story is inserted into the account of Jairus' daughter. Jesus is already on his way to help a child who is near death when the woman approaches him in the crowd. Mark describes her situation at length. She has suffered from bleeding for twelve years, endured much under many physicians, spent everything she had, and become worse rather than better. She approaches Jesus from behind and believes that touching his clothes will be enough. When she does, the bleeding immediately stops. But the story does not end with the physical healing. Jesus stops and searches for the person who touched him. The woman comes forward afraid and trembling and tells him the whole truth. Jesus addresses her personally: “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Notice this

The woman tries to receive help without being seen. She comes from behind through the crowd, touches Jesus' clothes, and is healed. But Jesus does not simply let her disappear. He stops, seeks her out, and listens as she tells the whole truth. Then he says: “Daughter...” The story therefore ends not when her body is healed, but after the personal encounter with Jesus.

Language & translation

From the Greek

ἅψωμαι – hapsōmai

I touch From haptomai, to touch or take hold of.

σωθήσομαι – sōthēsomai

I will be saved / healed From sōzō, which can mean save, rescue, preserve, or make well depending on context.

δύναμις – dynamis

power Mark says that Jesus perceives dynamis going out from him.

θυγάτηρ – thygatēr

daughter Jesus' address is familial and personal. The woman moves from anonymity in the crowd to being directly addressed as “daughter.”

ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε – hē pistis sou sesōken se

your faith has saved you The same sōzō word family used in the woman's thought in verse 28 returns in Jesus' final words.

ὕπαγε εἰς εἰρήνην – hypage eis eirēnēn

go in peace Jesus does not end merely with a statement about her body but sends her forward in peace.

Translation note

Independent English translation from the Greek text, using SBLGNT as the primary Greek edition.

Compare for yourself

Read Mark 5:21–34 together with Matthew 9:18–22 and Luke 8:40–48. Pay particular attention to:

  • haptomai
  • sōzō
  • dynamis
  • pistis
  • thygatēr
  • “the whole truth”
  • Jesus' final words “go in peace”

You may also read Leviticus 15:25–27 as background to the purity dimension.

Continue the conversation

Discuss further
  1. Why do you think the woman tries to approach Jesus anonymously?
  2. What does the personal encounter add after her body has already been healed?
  3. What does it mean that Jesus says “your faith has saved you” while the story also speaks of power going out from him?
  4. How does the story change when Jesus calls her “daughter”?
Parallel passages
  • Matthew 9:18–22
  • Luke 8:40–48
  • Leviticus 15:25–27
Sources
  • The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (SBLGNT), Michael W. Holmes, ed.
  • Mark 5:21–34
  • Matthew 9:18–22
  • Luke 8:40–48
  • Leviticus 15:25–27
  • Standard Greek lexical resources for haptomai, sōzō, dynamis, pistis, thygatēr, and eirēnē