Woman with the Issue of Blood

Biblical Account

This woman's story appears in Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-48. All three Gospels record that it took place while Jesus was on His way with Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue who had asked Him to heal his dying daughter. The account is thus interwoven with the story of the raising of Jairus's daughter. Neither the woman's name nor her place of origin is given.

The woman had suffered for twelve years from "an issue of blood," a condition of continual bleeding. Mark records that she "had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse" (Mark 5:26). Thinking, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole," she came up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched His garment (Matthew and Luke specify the "hem" or "border" of His garment), and immediately "the fountain of her blood was dried up."

According to Mark and Luke, Jesus knew that power had gone out of Him and asked who had touched Him. Luke records that Peter replied that the multitude was thronging Him. The woman came trembling, fell down before Him, and told Him all the truth, and Jesus said, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace" (Mark 5:34). Matthew gives a briefer account, recording that Jesus turned, saw the woman, and spoke to her, and that she was made whole from that hour.

Significance Within Scripture

Leviticus 15:25-27 regards a woman with a prolonged flow of blood as unclean (that is, in a state of ritual impurity) and stipulates that whatever she touches also becomes unclean. For this reason many interpreters believe that the woman had long been excluded from communal life and worship. Scholars differ, however, on how strictly this regulation was actually applied in the first century.

The twelve years of the woman's illness correspond to the age of Jairus's daughter, who was twelve years old (Mark 5:42). Through this account the Gospels present faith, salvation, and the power of Jesus together. Many interpreters hold that by calling forward the woman who had tried to remain hidden and addressing her as "Daughter" before the crowd, Jesus went beyond healing her illness and restored her to the community.

Interpretations and Debates

• The hem of His garment: Some interpreters hold that the word rendered "hem" or "border" in Matthew and Luke may, in the original language, refer to the tassels that Jewish men wore on the four corners of their garments (compare Numbers 15:38-39). Some sermons connect this with "healing in his wings" in Malachi 4:2, but this is an interpretation rather than something the text states directly.
• Faith and touch: Interpreters in the Reformed tradition generally emphasize that it was not the act of touching the garment itself but faith in Jesus that healed the woman. In Pentecostal and charismatic circles, the passage is often read as an example supporting divine healing (healing through faith) today. This difference is also connected to the debate over cessationism and continuationism.
• Later traditions: The church historian Eusebius is said to have recorded a tradition that a statue of Jesus erected by this woman stood in Caesarea Philippi. In the apocryphal Acts of Pilate, the woman is said to appear under the name Bernice (Veronica in Latin). These names and stories are later traditions not found in the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

In Korean Protestant churches, which commonly use the New Korean Revised Version, she is usually called "the woman who suffered from an issue of blood." Korean sermons frequently address such themes as earnest faith that comes to Jesus in the midst of long suffering, restoration from social alienation, and personal encounter with Jesus. The passage is cited especially often in sermons at healing meetings in churches that emphasize divine healing. In Korean Sunday schools it is usually taught together with the story of Jairus's daughter.