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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.
Luke 8:43 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any,
  • KJV And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
  • NKJV Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,
  • NASB And a woman who had suffered a chronic flow of blood for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone,
  • NLT A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

A woman with a twelve-year flow of blood, beyond all medical help, approaches Jesus. Her case is humanly hopeless.

Overview

Luke introduces a woman whose long illness left her ritually unclean, isolated, and bankrupt after futile treatments. Her condition made her an outcast under the law. Her desperate, faith-filled approach to Jesus contrasts with the helplessness of every other remedy.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Mark 5:25–26And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
  • Matt 9:20–22Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak.
  • Lev 15:25–33When 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 13:16Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”
  • Mark 9:21–22Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been with him?” “From childhood,” he said.
  • 2 Chr 16:12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady became increasingly severe. Yet even in his illness he did not seek the LORD, but only the physicians.
  • Job 13:4You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.
  • Isa 55:1–3“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
  • Luke 13:11and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight.
  • John 9:1Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth,
  • Luke 8:27When Jesus stepped ashore, He was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothing or lived in a house, but he stayed in the tombs.
  • Isa 2:22Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
  • John 9:21But how he can now see or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.”
  • Ps 108:12Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.
  • Acts 4:22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
  • John 5:5–6One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
  • Mark 9:18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”
  • Acts 3:2And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.
  • Acts 14:8–10In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Luke videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Luke 8:43YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on LukeMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.

How Luke 8:43 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.