5:25 Now 1 a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage 2 for twelve years. 3 5:26 She had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. 5:27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 4 5:28 for she kept saying, 5 “If only I touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 6 5:29 At once the bleeding stopped, 7 and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
1 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
2 tn Grk “a flow of blood.”
3 sn This story of the woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years is recounted in the middle of the story about Jairus’ daughter. Mark’s account (as is often the case) is longer and more detailed than the parallel accounts in Matt 9:18-26 and Luke 8:40-56. Mark’s fuller account may be intended to show that the healing of the woman was an anticipation of the healing of the little girl.
4 tn Grk “garment,” but here ἱμάτιον (Jimation) denotes the outer garment in particular.
5 tn The imperfect verb is here taken iteratively, for the context suggests that the woman was trying to muster up the courage to touch Jesus’ cloak.
6 tn Grk “saved.”
sn In this pericope the author uses a term for being healed (Grk “saved”) that would have spiritual significance to his readers. It may be a double entendre (cf. parallel in Matt 9:21 which uses the same term), since elsewhere he uses verbs that simply mean “heal”: If only the reader would “touch” Jesus, he too would be “saved.”
7 tn Grk “the flow of her blood dried up.”
sn The woman was most likely suffering from a vaginal hemorrhage, in which case her bleeding would make her ritually unclean.