The Meaning of Mark 5:26 Explained

Mark 5:26

KJV: And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

YLT: and many things having suffered under many physicians, and having spent all that she had, and having profited nothing, but rather having come to the worse,

Darby: and had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent everything she had and had found no advantage from it, but had rather got worse,

ASV: and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  had suffered  many things  of  many  physicians,  and  had spent  all  that she  had,  and  was  nothing  bettered,  but  rather  grew  worse, 

What does Mark 5:26 Mean?

Context Summary

Mark 5:21-43 - Hope For The Hopeless
We turn from the demon-driven man to this woman, weakened by long disease. For the one there was the outward manifestation of evil, but for the other inward wasting and decay. Let those who are conscious of the ravages of evil in their hearts, destroying their strength, establish connection with Christ as slight as the finger's touch of the garment hem, and forthwith His virtue will enter and stay their inward malady. His power is ever going forth, and faith receives as much as it desires. The reservoir of power is always full, but how few, how very few, have learned the secret of tapping it!
Crowds throng Him, but only one touches. Proximity to Christ does not necessarily imply the appropriation of Christ. But where there is the faintest touch of faith, there is an instantaneous, may we not say, automatic, response. There may be great weakness, the fingers may be too nerveless to grasp, they can only touch; but the slightest degree of faith saves, because it is the channel by which Christ enters, Mark 5:34. Even children are liable to the havoc caused by sin, Mark 5:35-43. Death has passed on all, and from the universal blight even the little ones cannot find immunity. But again we turn to the Master of life, whose touch is as gentle as a woman's and whose voice can penetrate the recesses of the unseen. [source]

Chapter Summary: Mark 5

1  Jesus delivering the possessed of the legion of demons,
13  they enter into the pigs
22  He is entreated by Jairus to go and heal his daughter
25  He heals the woman subject to bleeding,
35  and raises Jairus' daughter from death

Greek Commentary for Mark 5:26

Had suffered many things of many physicians [πολλα πατουσα υπο πολλων ιατρων]
A pathetic picture of a woman with a chronic case who had tried doctor after doctor. [source]
Had spent all that she had [δαπανησασα τα παρ αυτης παντα]
Having spent the all from herself, all her resources. For the idiom with παρα — para see note on Luke 10:7; Philemon 4:18. The tragedy of it was that she “was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse” Her money was gone, her disease was gaining on her, her one chance came now with Jesus. Matthew says nothing about her experience with the doctors and Luke 8:43 merely says that she “had spent all her living upon physicians and could not be healed of any,” a plain chronic case. Luke the physician neatly takes care of the physicians. But they were not to blame. She had a disease that they did not know how to cure. Vincent quotes a prescription for an issue of blood as given in the Talmud which gives one a most grateful feeling that he is not under the care of doctors of that nature. The only parallel today is Chinese medicine of the old sort before modern medical schools came. [source]
Had suffered [παθοῦσα]
To be taken, as everywhere in the New Testament, in the sense of suffering pain, not merely subjected to treatment. What she may have suffered will appear from the prescription for the medical treatment of such a complaint given in the Talmud. “Take of the gum of Alexandria the weight of a zuzee (a fractional silver coin); of alum the same; of crocus the same. Let them be bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that has an issue of blood. If this does not benefit, take of Persian onions three logs (pints); boil them in wine, and give her to drink, and say, 'Arise from thy flux.' If this does not cure her, set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of wine in her right hand, and let some one come behind and frighten her, and say, ' Arise from thy flux.' But if that do no good, take a handful of cummin (a kind of fennel), a handful of crocus, and a handful of fenugreek (another kind of fennel). Let these be boiled in wine and give them her to drink, and say, ' Arise from thy flux!'” If these do no good, other doses, over ten in number, are prescribed, among them this: “Let them dig seven ditches, in which let them burn some cuttings of vines, not yet four years old. Let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let them lead her away from this ditch, and make her sit down over that. And let them remove her from that, and make her sit down over another, saying to her at each remove, 'Arise from thy flux!'” (Quoted from Lightfoot by Geikie, “Life and Words of Christ”). [source]
Of many physicians [ὑπὸ]
Lit., under; i.e., under the hands of. [source]
And was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse []
Luke's professional pride as a physician kept him from such a statement. Compare Luke 8:43. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Mark 5:26

Luke 8:43 Had spent all her living upon physicians [εις ιατρους προσαναλωσασα ολον τον βιον]
First aorist active participle of an old verb προσαναλισκω — prosanaliskō only here in the N.T. But Westcott and Hort reject this clause because it is not in B D Syriac Sinaitic. Whether genuine or not, the other clause in Mark 5:26 certainly is not in Luke: “had suffered many things of many physicians.” Probably both are not genuine in Luke who takes care of the physicians by the simple statement that it was a chronic case: could not be healed of any He omitted also what Mark has: “and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse.” [source]
2 Corinthians 12:15 I will most gladly spend and be spent [ηδιστα δαπανησω και εκδαπανητησομαι]
Both future active of old verb δαπαναω — dapanaō (Mark 5:26) to spend money, time, energy, strength and the future passive of εκδαπαναω — ekdapanaō late compound to spend utterly, to spend out, (εκ — ek̇), to spend wholly. Only here in N.T. [source]

What do the individual words in Mark 5:26 mean?

and much having suffered under many physicians having spent the of her all in no way having benefited but rather to the worse having come
καὶ πολλὰ παθοῦσα ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἰατρῶν δαπανήσασα τὰ παρ’ αὐτῆς πάντα μηδὲν ὠφεληθεῖσα ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ χεῖρον ἐλθοῦσα

πολλὰ  much 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: πολύς  
Sense: many, much, large.
παθοῦσα  having  suffered 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: πάσχω  
Sense: to be affected or have been affected, to feel, have a sensible experience, to undergo.
ὑπὸ  under 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ὑπό  
Sense: by, under.
πολλῶν  many 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: πολύς  
Sense: many, much, large.
ἰατρῶν  physicians 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: ἰατρός  
Sense: a physician.
δαπανήσασα  having  spent 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: δαπανάω  
Sense: to incur expense, expend, spend.
αὐτῆς  her 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Feminine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
μηδὲν  in  no  way 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: μηδείς 
Sense: nobody, no one, nothing.
ὠφεληθεῖσα  having  benefited 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Passive, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ὠφελέω  
Sense: to assist, to be useful or advantageous, to profit.
μᾶλλον  rather 
Parse: Adverb
Root: μᾶλλον  
Sense: more, to a greater degree, rather.
χεῖρον  worse 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular, Comparative
Root: χείρων  
Sense: worse.
ἐλθοῦσα  having  come 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ἔρχομαι  
Sense: to come.

What are the major concepts related to Mark 5:26?

Loading Information...