Matthew indicates that many women were present, while Mark initially refers only to “women” without any qualifying phrase (15.40), though later he adds that there were also “many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem” (15.41). Luke mentions the women together with the others who had known Jesus personally (23.49). Both Matthew and Luke identify the women as those who had followed Jesus from Galilee, to which Matthew adds ministering to him. Mark speaks of this first group of women as those “who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him” (15.41). In the context followed means “accompanied” or “went with,” not to walk behind or to come later, as the verb might wrongly suggest in English.

The order of this verse is not the most natural in many languages. A possible restructuring can be “There were also many women there who had followed Jesus from Galilee and taken care of his needs. They were watching all this from some distance away.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .