Exegesis:
Most of the words of this verse have already been dealt with: eisporeuomai ‘enter’ (1.21); kōmē, polis, agros ‘village, city, country-town’ (5.14; 6.6); parakaleō ‘request’ (1.40); hina of content ‘that’ (5.10, 18); kan ‘if only,’ ‘at least’ (5.28); himation ‘cloak,’ ‘garment’ (2.21); haptomai ‘touch’ (1.41); sōzō ‘heal,’ ‘cure’ (5.23).
en tais agorais (7.4; 12.38) ‘in the market places’ (perhaps ‘in the town squares,’ ‘in the village centers’): not every town and hamlet had its own market place.
tous asthenountas (only here in Mark; cf. the adjective asthenēs 14.38) ‘those who were feeble,’ i.e. the sick.
kan tou kraspedou tou himatiou autou hapsōntai ‘they might touch at least the fringe of his garment.’
kraspedon (only here in Mark) ‘edge,’ ‘border,’ ‘hem’; probably here not in the general sense, but in the specific sense of ‘tassel’ (in Hebrew tsitsith) worn by pious Jews on each of the four corners of the cloak (cf. Mt. 23.5).
Lagrange calls attention to the distinction between the aorist hēpsanto ‘they touched’ and the imperfect esōzonto ‘they were made well’ in the last clause: ‘And as many as touched it (momentary act) they were being made well (one after the other).’
Translation:
Came is probably better rendered as ‘went’ in most languages, for the point of view of the narrator is that of a companion of Jesus, not of those to whom he was coming.
Villages, cities, or country is paralleled by ‘small villages, large towns, and hamlets in the country.’ In Latin America market places are equivalent to ‘plazas,’ the central, open squares of the towns, often used for markets, at least on certain days.
There is a confusion in subject reference in the verb besought. Is the meaning here (1) that those who laid the sick in the market places requested Jesus to allow the sick to touch the hem of his garment (probably more accurately the tassel, though this would be difficult to translate in many languages), or (2) that the sick pleaded with Jesus to be able to touch his garment? It may very well be that both would be true, not only would the “sponsors” of the sick try to get Jesus to pay attention to their friends or relatives, but the sick would themselves ask for help. In many languages, however, one cannot preserve such an ambiguity, and hence one must choose between those who brought the sick and the sick themselves, in which case it is probably more in keeping with the context to employ the latter alternative.
Were made well may be translated as ‘got well,’ ‘became well,’ or ‘were healed.’
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .