Mark 5:21-43
5:21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea.
5:22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet
5:23 and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”
5:24 So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.
5:25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.
5:26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.
5:27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
5:28 for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”
5:29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
5:30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
5:31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
5:32 He looked all around to see who had done it.
5:33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.
5:34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
5:35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?”
5:36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”
5:37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
5:38 When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.
5:39 When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”
5:40 And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.
5:41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”
5:42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.
5:43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
[21]Καὶ διαπεράσαντος τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ πάλιν εἰς τὸ πέραν συνήχθη ὄχλος πολὺς ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν, καὶ ἦν παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν.
[22]Καὶ ἔρχεται εἷς τῶν ἀρχισυναγώγων, ὀνόματι ᾿Ιάειρος, καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν πίπτει πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ
[23]καὶ παρεκάλει αὐτὸν πολλά, λέγων ὅτι τὸ θυγάτριόν μου ἐσχάτως ἔχει, ἵνα ἐλθὼν ἐπιθῇς αὐτῇ τὰς χεῖρας, ὅπως σωθῇ καὶ ζήσεται.
[24]καὶ ἀπῆλθε μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ ὄχλος πολύς, καὶ συνέθλιβον αὐτόν.
[25]Καὶ γυνή τις οὖσα ἐν ῥύσει αἵματος ἔτη δώδεκα,
[26]καὶ πολλὰ παθοῦσα ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἰατρῶν καὶ δαπανήσασα τὰ παρ᾿ ἑαυτῆς πάντα, καὶ μηδὲν ὠφεληθεῖσα, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ χεῖρον ἐλθοῦσα,
[27]ἀκούσασα περὶ τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ, ἐλθοῦσα ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ὄπισθεν ἥψατο τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτοῦ·
[28]ἔλεγε γὰρ ἐν ἑαυτῇ ὅτι ἐὰν ἅψωμαι κἂν τῶν ἱματίων αὐτοῦ, σωθήσομαι.
[29]καὶ εὐθέως ἐξηράνθη ἡ πηγὴ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔγνω τῷ σώματι ὅτι ἴαται ἀπὸ τῆς μάστιγος.
[30]καὶ εὐθέως ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἐπιγνοὺς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δύναμιν ἐξελθοῦσαν, ἐπιστραφεὶς ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ἔλεγε· τίς μου ἥψατο τῶν ἱματίων;
[31]καὶ ἔλεγον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ· βλέπεις τὸν ὄχλον συνθλίβοντά σε, καὶ λέγεις τίς μου ἥψατο;
[32]καὶ περιεβλέπετο ἰδεῖν τὴν τοῦτο ποιήσασαν.
[33]ἡ δὲ γυνὴ φοβηθεῖσα καὶ τρέμουσα, εἰδυῖα ὃ γέγονεν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ, ἦλθε καὶ προσέπεσεν αὐτῷ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
[34]ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· θύγατερ, ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε· ὕπαγε εἰς εἰρήνην, καὶ ἴσθι ὑγιὴς ἀπὸ τῆς μάστιγός σου.
[35]῎Ετι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος ἔρχονται ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀρχισυναγώγου λέγοντες ὅτι ἡ θυγάτηρ σου ἀπέθανε· τί ἔτι σκύλλεις τὸν διδάσκαλον;
[36]ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς εὐθέως ἀκούσας τὸν λόγον λαλούμενον λέγει τῷ ἀρχισυναγώγῳ· μὴ φοβοῦ, μόνον πίστευε.
[37]καὶ οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὑτῷ οὐδένα συνακολουθῆσαι εἰ μὴ Πέτρον καὶ ᾿Ιάκωβον καὶ ᾿Ιωάννην τὸν ἀδελφὸν ᾿Ιακώβου.
[38]καὶ ἔρχεται εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἀρχισυναγώγου, καὶ θεωρεῖ θόρυβον, καὶ κλαίοντας καὶ ἀλαλάζοντας πολλά,
[39]καὶ εἰσελθὼν λέγει αὐτοῖς· τί θορυβεῖσθεκαὶ κλαίετε; τὸ παιδίον οὐκ ἀπέθανεν, ἀλλὰ καθεύδει. καὶ κατεγέλων αὐτοῦ.
[40]ὁ δὲ ἐκβαλὼν πάντας παραλαμβάνει τὸν πατέρα τοῦ παιδίου καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ τοὺς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰσπορεύεται ὅπου ἦν τὸ παιδίον ἀνακείμενον,
[41]καὶ κρατήσας τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ παιδίου λέγει αὐτῇ· ταλιθά, κοῦμι· ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον, τὸ κοράσιον, σοὶ λέγω, ἔγειρε.
[42]καὶ εὐθέως ἀνέστη τὸ κοράσιον καὶ περιεπάτει· ἦν γὰρ ἐτῶν δώδεκα. καὶ ἐξέστησαν ἐκστάσει μεγάλῃ.
[43]καὶ διεστείλατο αὐτοῖς πολλὰ ἵνα μηδεὶς γνῷ τοῦτο· καὶ εἶπε δοθῆναι αὐτῇ φαγεῖν.
Comments
St Mark, as usual, is fond of the historical (dramatic) present, i.e. he uses the present where we might expect a past tense. This is a narrational strategy but also is prevalent in koine Greek.
[23] τὸ θυγάτριόν μου ἐσχάτως ἔχει: θυγάτριον, neut., is the dimin. of θυγατήρ, ‘daughter’; perhaps the force is ‘my dear little girl’. Cf. τὸ κοράσιον (vv. 41, 42), another dimin., ‘little girl’. Mark is fond of diminutives.
ἐσχάτως, adv. < ἔσχατος, adj. referring to the ‘degree of sufferings, misery, etc.’, i.e. ‘last, worst’ (cl. Gk prose: LSJ s.v., I.2).
The adv. = ‘exceedingly’ (cl. Gk pr. & poetry: LSJ s.v., II.a); ἐσχάτως ἔχει means ‘is near the end’ (EDNT s.v. ἐσχάτως); in effect, ‘my little girl is in extremis’, ‘she is breathing her last’. Cf. the cl. Gk idiom, κακῶς ἔχω, ‘I am in a bad way’.
[25] οὖσα ἐν ῥύσει αἵματος ἔτη δώδεκα: οὖσα, ‘being’, is the first of a string of six participles which refer to the woman, the subject of the vb ἥψατο in v. 27. This is an attributive (descriptive) participle, and corresponds to the impf. tense: ‘who was with a flow of blood for twelve years’.
[26] καὶ πολλὰ παθοῦσα ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἰατρῶν: the woman’s long-term suffering at the hands of many physicians is conveyed by repetition: πολλὰ, ‘many things’ and the adj. πολλῶν, ‘many’ (i.e. physicians).
[27] ἀκούσασα περὶ τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ, ἐλθοῦσα ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ὄπισθεν ἥψατο τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτοῦ: whilst the preceding descriptive participles were interconnected by conjunctions, ἀκούσασα (aor.) and ἐλθοῦσα (aor.) are not. Two or more participles that are nor connected to one another by conjunctions may have different functions. Thus the first participle (ἀκούσασα) is causal (or temporal) and modifies the second one (ἐλθοῦσα), which becomes the equivalent of a finite vb: ‘because (when) she heard about Jesus, she went (ἐλθοῦσα) behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak’ (ἥψατο τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτοῦ). (Cf. the three participles in v. 33, φοβηθεῖσα καὶ τρέμουσα, εἰδυῖα, the third of which is not connected to the preceding two participles.)
ἥψατο, aor., ἅπτομαι, mid., c. gen., ‘take hold of’ (cl Gk: LSJ s.v., II.a), ‘touch’. Some might say that the woman is treating Jesus’ garment as an amulet.[1]
[29] ἔγνω τῷ σώματι ὅτι ἴαται: ‘she sensed in her body that she has been healed’. ἔγνω, 2nd aor. < γινώσκω, ‘Ι know’ through perceiving something. (See on v. 30.) The pf. ‘she has been healed’ is vivid, and is possible even after the past tense ἔγνω (Goodwin, Greek Grammar 1487).
[30] ἐπιγνοὺς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δύναμιν ἐξελθοῦσαν: the preverb ἐπί (‘after’, ‘in turn’) suggests that Jesus did not simply ‘know’/ ‘sense’ (γνούς < γινώσκω) but ‘came to know’. ἐπιγινώσκω, ‘I come to know’, c. acc. + participle, as here, a LXX nuance (Muraoka s.v., 1).
[32] καὶ περιεβλέπετο ἰδεῖν τὴν τοῦτο ποιήσασαν: περιβλέπομαι, mid., intr. (prob. koine syntax), ‘I look around inquisitively’ (Muraoka s.v., 1). ‘He looked about (περί-) with curiosity to see…’ ἰδεῖν, an inf. of purpose.
[35] σκύλλεις τὸν διδάσκαλον: the question has a colloquial ring, ‘Why are you annoying/ pestering the teacher?’ σκύλλω, ‘I trouble, annoy’, late Greek (but not in LXX).
[42] ἐξέστησαν ἐκστάσει μεγάλῃ: the aor. 2 of ἐξίσταμαι, pass. & mid. vc., intr., ‘be distraught, out of one’s wits’ (in cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. II.3). Lit., ‘to suffer a dislocation’; the lit. sense seems to be frequent in medical contexts.
The verse plays with etymology: ‘they were distraught with great distraction’, ‘they were mentally dislocated with a great mental dislocation’. ἔκστασις, ‘state of being outside oneself, transport’ (EDNT s.v.) Cf. Engl. ecstasy.
[1] See G. Vikan, ‘Magic and visual culture in late antiquity’, in J. C. B. Petropoulos, Greek magic: Ancient, medieval, and modern, London & New York, 53-8.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 