Limitless Word
And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
Mark 5:25 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB A certain woman, who had an issue of blood for twelve years,
  • KJV And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
  • NKJV Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years,
  • NASB A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years,
  • NLT A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding.

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 who had suffered a twelve-year flow of blood approaches Jesus.

Overview

Her chronic condition rendered her ceremonially unclean under the Law (Leviticus 15), cutting her off from worship and community. Twelve years of suffering left her desperate. Her approach to Jesus, hidden in the crowd, displays a quiet but real faith reaching for help.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Lev 15:25–27When 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 8:43–44including 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.
  • 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 15:19–20When 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 5:5–6One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
  • 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.
  • Acts 9:33–34There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years.
  • Acts 4:22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Mark videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

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

  • VideoWatch teaching on Mark 5:25YouTube · 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 MarkMatthew 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

Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'

How Mark 5:25 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.