Section 5:21–43

Jesus healed a sick woman and caused a dead girl to live again

This section tells about two miracles that Jesus did. He healed a woman who had a sickness that caused her to have chronic bleeding. The story about this woman is told in the middle of the story about a dead girl whom he caused to live again. The situation was hopeless for both until Jesus miraculously helped them. His miracles showed the special power and authority that God had given to Jesus as the Messiah.

These stories include the idea of ritual impurity, just as in the story of the healing of the man with a “legion” of “unclean” spirits. Here, the woman was unclean according to the law of Moses because of the bleeding that was caused by her sickness. The dead body of Jairus’ daughter was also ritually unclean. But in spite of this, Jesus touched both of them. Instead of becoming unclean himself, he made them ritually clean by making them well.

Another important theme is faith. Jesus said that the woman who was bleeding was healed because of her faith. Then he encouraged Jairus to keep believing that God could make his daughter well, even after she died.

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Jesus cured a woman with chronic bleeding and gave life to a dead girl
-or-
The child of Jairus and the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ clothing
-or-
A dead girl and a sick woman (New International Version)

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 9:18–26 and Luke 8:40–56.

Paragraph 5:21–24

5:21a

When Jesus had again crossed by boat to the other side: At the beginning of this story Jesus crossed the lake to the other side. In some languages it may be most natural to make this statement a complete sentence. For example, the Good News Bible says:

Jesus went back across to the other side of the lake.

When: The events of this story follow immediately after the story about the man whom Jesus freed in 5:1–20. Indicate this in a natural way in your language. In some languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. In other languages, it is natural to begin with a time word or phrase. For example:

After Jesus had again crossed…
-or-
As soon as Jesus had returned… (Revised English Bible)

Jesus: The context implies that Jesus’ disciples also went with him to the other side of the lake. Mark does not mention them here because Jesus is in focus. However, in some languages it may be confusing not to include the disciples. If that is true in your language, you may want to mention them. For example:

When Jesus and the disciples had crossed back over
-or-
When Jesus had crossed back over with the disciples

again crossed: The phrase again crossed indicates that Jesus and the disciples crossed the lake again in the opposite direction from which they had come. This time they traveled from the northeast side of the lake to the northwest side. (They probably arrived back at or near Capernaum.) In some languages it may be helpful to make this clear. For example:

crossed back over
-or-
returned to the other side

by boat:

There is a minor textual issue in this verse. Most Greek manuscripts have “in the boat,” but a few omit this phrase. Almost all English versions include this phrase, except the Good News Bible. The Good News Bible may have omitted it for translation reasons, not textual ones.
Most English versions specify that Jesus returned to the other side of the lake in the boat. In some languages, this fact may already by implied by the preceding expression “cross over again.” If that is true in your language, it may be more natural to make this phrase implicit. For example, the Good News Bible has:

went back across to the other side of the lake

5:21b

a large crowd gathered around Him beside the sea: The phrase beside the sea gives the location for the following events. It indicates that Jesus was still by the lake when the crowd gathered around him. In some languages, it may be more natural to mention this location first. For example:

while he was by the lake, a large crowd gathered around him
-or-
at the lakeside a large crowd gathered around him (Good News Bible)

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