Mark 5 — The MisterLibrarian Bible Project

Mark 5 — The Mister Translation

A monochrome photograph of an ancient wall mosaic in a rough, tessellated style. On the left, two standing haloed figures face right: a young, beardless Christ with a large halo, and a companion figure beside him with one hand raised to his own chest. At their feet, a smaller kneeling man reaches toward Christ with both hands. To the right, a rocky outcrop with sparse vegetation separates the group from three dark, hunched animal shapes lying along a shoreline, standing in for the herd of swine. — *Christ Exorcising the Gerasene Demoniac*

Unknown mosaicist, late 5th century AD · Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

⚠ **This is one of the oldest surviving pictures of any Gospel miracle** — a wall mosaic from Ravenna's Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, built around 500 AD, decades before the Byzantine empire's own Justinianic mosaics a few streets away. Christ is shown young and beardless, in the earliest Western convention for his image, a full generation before the bearded type that later became standard. The kneeling man and the dark shapes on the shore are the whole scene reduced to its bones: the man delivered, and what became of the pigs. ⚠ **The mosaic's own church tells the region's later religious history in miniature** — built under the Arian Ostrogothic king Theodoric, it was rededicated to Nicene orthodoxy within a generation, and its original mosaic cycle survives largely intact along both walls of the nave, one of the most complete such cycles anywhere from this period.

Public domain · View the original

Καὶ ἦλθον εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Γερασηνῶν

And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.note

Y llegaron al otro lado del mar, a la región de los gerasenos.

καὶ ἐξελθόντος αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ πλοίου εὐθὺς ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ ἐκ τῶν μνημείων ἄνθρωπος ἐν πνεύματι ἀκαθάρτῳ,

And when he had gotten out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs met him, with an unclean spirit,note

Y en cuanto salió de la barca, enseguida le salió al encuentro, de entre los sepulcros, un hombre con un espíritu inmundo,

ὃς τὴν κατοίκησιν εἶχεν ἐν τοῖς μνήμασιν, καὶ οὐδὲ ἁλύσει οὐκέτι οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο αὐτὸν δῆσαι

who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no one was able to bind him anymore, not even with a chain,note

que tenía su morada entre los sepulcros, y ya nadie podía atarlo, ni siquiera con una cadena,

διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν πολλάκις πέδαις καὶ ἁλύσεσι δεδέσθαι καὶ διεσπάσθαι ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τὰς ἁλύσεις καὶ τὰς πέδας συντετρῖφθαι, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἴσχυεν αὐτὸν δαμάσαι·

because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one had the strength to subdue him.note

porque muchas veces había sido atado con grillos y cadenas, y las cadenas habían sido despedazadas por él, y los grillos hechos pedazos, y nadie tenía fuerza para someterlo.

καὶ διὰ παντὸς νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ἐν τοῖς μνήμασιν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἦν κράζων καὶ κατακόπτων ἑαυτὸν λίθοις.

And always, night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and cutting himself with stones.note

Y siempre, de noche y de día, entre los sepulcros y en los montes, clamaba y se cortaba con piedras.

καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀπὸ μακρόθεν ἔδραμεν καὶ προσεκύνησεν αὐτόν

And seeing Jesus from far off, he ran and bowed down before him,note

Y viendo a Jesús de lejos, corrió y se postró ante él,

καὶ κράξας φωνῇ μεγάλῃ λέγει Τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, Ἰησοῦ υἱὲ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου; ὁρκίζω σε τὸν θεόν, μή με βασανίσῃς.

and crying out with a loud voice, he says, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”note

y clamando a gran voz, dice: «¿Qué tienes conmigo, Jesús, Hijo del Dios Altísimo? Te conjuro por Dios, no me atormentes.»

ἔλεγεν γὰρ αὐτῷ· Ἔξελθε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἀκάθαρτον ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.”note

Porque le decía: «Sal de este hombre, espíritu inmundo.»

καὶ ἐπηρώτα αὐτόν· Τί ὄνομά σοι; καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Λεγιὼν ὄνομά μοι, ὅτι πολλοί ἐσμεν·

And he asked him, “What is your name?” And he says to him, “Legion is my name, for we are many.”note

Y le preguntó: «¿Cuál es tu nombre?» Y le dice: «Legión es mi nombre, porque somos muchos.»

καὶ παρεκάλει αὐτὸν πολλὰ ἵνα μὴ αὐτὰ ἀποστείλῃ ἔξω τῆς χώρας.

And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.note

Y le rogaba con insistencia que no los enviara fuera de la región.

ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖ πρὸς τῷ ὄρει ἀγέλη χοίρων μεγάλη βοσκομένη·

Now there was a great herd of pigs feeding there on the mountainside,note

Había allí, junto al monte, una gran piara de cerdos paciendo,

καὶ παρεκάλεσαν αὐτὸν λέγοντες· Πέμψον ἡμᾶς εἰς τοὺς χοίρους, ἵνα εἰς αὐτοὺς εἰσέλθωμεν.

and they begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, that we may enter them.”note

y le rogaron, diciendo: «Envíanos a los cerdos, para que entremos en ellos.»

καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐξελθόντα τὰ πνεύματα τὰ ἀκάθαρτα εἰσῆλθον εἰς τοὺς χοίρους, καὶ ὥρμησεν ἡ ἀγέλη κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, ὡς δισχίλιοι, καὶ ἐπνίγοντο ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ.

And he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them, and they were drowned in the sea.note

Y se lo permitió. Y saliendo los espíritus inmundos, entraron en los cerdos, y la piara se precipitó por el despeñadero al mar, unos dos mil, y se ahogaban en el mar.

Καὶ οἱ βόσκοντες αὐτοὺς ἔφυγον καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀγρούς· καὶ ἦλθον ἰδεῖν τί ἐστιν τὸ γεγονός.

And the herdsmen fled, and reported it in the city and in the countryside. And people came to see what it was that had happened.note

Y los que los apacentaban huyeron, y lo anunciaron en la ciudad y en los campos. Y vinieron a ver qué era lo que había sucedido.

καὶ ἔρχονται πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν, καὶ θεωροῦσιν τὸν δαιμονιζόμενον καθήμενον ἱματισμένον καὶ σωφρονοῦντα, τὸν ἐσχηκότα τὸν λεγιῶνα καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν.

And they come to Jesus, and they see the man who had been possessed by demons, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind — the very man who had had the Legion — and they were afraid.note

Y vienen a Jesús, y ven al que había estado poseído por los demonios, sentado, vestido y en su sano juicio —al mismo que había tenido la Legión— y tuvieron miedo.

καὶ διηγήσαντο αὐτοῖς οἱ ἰδόντες πῶς ἐγένετο τῷ δαιμονιζομένῳ καὶ περὶ τῶν χοίρων.

And those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and about the pigs.note

Y los que lo habían visto les contaron cómo le había sucedido al endemoniado, y lo de los cerdos.

καὶ ἤρξαντο παρακαλεῖν αὐτὸν ἀπελθεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρίων αὐτῶν.

And they began to beg him to depart from their region.note

Y comenzaron a rogarle que se fuera de su territorio.

καὶ ἐμβαίνοντος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πλοῖον παρεκάλει αὐτὸν ὁ δαιμονισθεὶς ἵνα μετʼ αὐτοῦ ᾖ.

And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.note

Y cuando entraba en la barca, el que había estado endemoniado le rogaba que le permitiera estar con él.

καὶ οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου πρὸς τοὺς σούς, καὶ ἀπάγγειλον αὐτοῖς ὅσα ὁ κύριός σοι πεποίηκεν καὶ ἠλέησέν σε.

And he did not permit him, but says to him, “Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”note

Y no se lo permitió, sino que le dice: «Vete a tu casa, a los tuyos, y cuéntales cuánto ha hecho el Señor por ti, y cómo tuvo misericordia de ti.»

cross-refs⤷ 3:12

καὶ ἀπῆλθεν καὶ ἤρξατο κηρύσσειν ἐν τῇ Δεκαπόλει ὅσα ἐποίησεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ πάντες ἐθαύμαζον.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.note

Y se fue, y comenzó a proclamar en Decápolis cuánto había hecho Jesús por él, y todos se maravillaban.

Καὶ διαπεράσαντος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ πάλιν εἰς τὸ πέραν συνήχθη ὄχλος πολὺς ἐπʼ αὐτόν, καὶ ἦν παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν.

And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him, and he was beside the sea.note

Y cuando Jesús hubo cruzado otra vez en la barca al otro lado, se reunió alrededor de él una gran multitud, y él estaba junto al mar.

καὶ ἔρχεται εἷς τῶν ἀρχισυναγώγων, ὀνόματι Ἰάϊρος, καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν πίπτει πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ

And one of the synagogue rulers comes, named Jairus, and seeing him, he falls at his feetnote

Y viene uno de los jefes de la sinagoga, llamado Jairo, y al verlo, cae a sus pies

καὶ παρακαλεῖ αὐτὸν πολλὰ λέγων ὅτι Τὸ θυγάτριόν μου ἐσχάτως ἔχει, ἵνα ἐλθὼν ἐπιθῇς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῇ ἵνα σωθῇ καὶ ζήσῃ

and begs him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”note

y le ruega con insistencia, diciendo: «Mi hijita está a punto de morir. Ven y pon las manos sobre ella, para que sane y viva.»

καὶ ἀπῆλθεν μετʼ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ ὄχλος πολύς, καὶ συνέθλιβον αὐτόν.

And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and pressed around him.note

Y fue con él. Y lo seguía una gran multitud, y lo apretujaban.

καὶ γυνὴ οὖσα ἐν ῥύσει αἵματος δώδεκα ἔτη

And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,note

Y había una mujer que padecía flujo de sangre desde hacía doce años,

καὶ πολλὰ παθοῦσα ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἰατρῶν καὶ δαπανήσασα τὰ παρʼ αὐτῆς πάντα καὶ μηδὲν ὠφεληθεῖσα ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ χεῖρον ἐλθοῦσα,

and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent everything she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.note

y que había sufrido mucho a manos de muchos médicos, y había gastado todo lo que tenía, y no había mejorado nada, sino que más bien iba a peor.

ἀκούσασα περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἐλθοῦσα ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ὄπισθεν ἥψατο τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτοῦ·

Having heard about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind him and touched his garment.note

Habiendo oído hablar de Jesús, vino entre la multitud por detrás y tocó su manto.

ἔλεγεν γὰρ ὅτι Ἐὰν ἅψωμαι κἂν τῶν ἱματίων αὐτοῦ σωθήσομαι.

For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”note

Porque decía: «Si toco tan solo sus mantos, sanaré.»

καὶ εὐθὺς ἐξηράνθη ἡ πηγὴ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔγνω τῷ σώματι ὅτι ἴαται ἀπὸ τῆς μάστιγος.

And immediately the flow of her blood dried up, and she knew in her body that she was healed of her affliction.note

Y enseguida se secó la fuente de su sangre, y sintió en su cuerpo que estaba sanada de su aflicción.

καὶ εὐθὺς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐπιγνοὺς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δύναμιν ἐξελθοῦσαν ἐπιστραφεὶς ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ἔλεγεν· Τίς μου ἥψατο τῶν ἱματίων;

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”note

Y enseguida Jesús, percibiendo en sí mismo que había salido poder de él, se volvió en la multitud y dijo: «¿Quién tocó mis mantos?»

καὶ ἔλεγον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ· Βλέπεις τὸν ὄχλον συνθλίβοντά σε, καὶ λέγεις· Τίς μου ἥψατο;

And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”note

Y sus discípulos le dijeron: «Ves que la multitud te apretuja, ¿y dices: ‘¿Quién me tocó?’?»

καὶ περιεβλέπετο ἰδεῖν τὴν τοῦτο ποιήσασαν.

And he looked around to see who had done this.note

Y miraba alrededor para ver quién había hecho esto.

ἡ δὲ γυνὴ φοβηθεῖσα καὶ τρέμουσα, εἰδυῖα ὃ γέγονεν αὐτῇ ἦλθεν καὶ προσέπεσεν αὐτῷ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.

But the woman, frightened and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.note

Pero la mujer, temerosa y temblando, sabiendo lo que le había sucedido, vino y cayó delante de él, y le dijo toda la verdad.

ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Θυγάτηρ ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε· ὕπαγε εἰς εἰρήνην, καὶ ἴσθι ὑγιὴς ἀπὸ τῆς μάστιγός σου.

And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”note

Y él le dijo: «Hija, tu fe te ha sanado. Vete en paz, y queda sana de tu aflicción.»

Ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος ἔρχονται ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀρχισυναγώγου λέγοντες ὅτι Ἡ θυγάτηρ σου ἀπέθανεν· τί ἔτι σκύλλεις τὸν διδάσκαλον;

While he was still speaking, people come from the synagogue ruler's house, saying, “Your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher any further?”note

Mientras él aún hablaba, vienen de la casa del jefe de la sinagoga, diciendo: «Tu hija ha muerto. ¿Para qué molestas ya al maestro?»

ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς παρακούσας τὸν λόγον λαλούμενον λέγει τῷ ἀρχισυναγώγῳ· Μὴ φοβοῦ, μόνον πίστευε.

But Jesus, overhearing what was said, says to the synagogue ruler, “Do not fear, only believe.”note

Pero Jesús, oyendo lo que se decía, dice al jefe de la sinagoga: «No temas, solo cree.»

καὶ οὐκ ἀφῆκεν οὐδένα μετʼ αὐτοῦ συνακολουθῆσαι εἰ μὴ τὸν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰάκωβον καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἰακώβου.

And he did not permit anyone to accompany him, except Peter and James and John, the brother of James.note

Y no permitió que nadie lo acompañara, excepto Pedro, Jacobo y Juan, el hermano de Jacobo.

καὶ ἔρχονται εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἀρχισυναγώγου, καὶ θεωρεῖ θόρυβον καὶ κλαίοντας καὶ ἀλαλάζοντας πολλά,

And they come to the house of the synagogue ruler, and he sees a commotion, and people weeping and wailing greatly.note

Y vienen a la casa del jefe de la sinagoga, y ve un alboroto, y a gente llorando y lamentándose mucho.

καὶ εἰσελθὼν λέγει αὐτοῖς· Τί θορυβεῖσθε καὶ κλαίετε; τὸ παιδίον οὐκ ἀπέθανεν ἀλλὰ καθεύδει.

And going in, he says to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping.”note

Y entrando, les dice: «¿Por qué hacéis alboroto y lloráis? La niña no ha muerto, sino que duerme.»

καὶ κατεγέλων αὐτοῦ. αὐτὸς δὲ ἐκβαλὼν πάντας παραλαμβάνει τὸν πατέρα τοῦ παιδίου καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰσπορεύεται ὅπου ἦν τὸ παιδίον

And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside, and took the father of the child and the mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.note

Y se reían de él. Pero él, echando fuera a todos, toma al padre de la niña y a la madre y a los que estaban con él, y entra donde estaba la niña.

καὶ κρατήσας τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ παιδίου λέγει αὐτῇ· Ταλιθα κουμ ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον· Τὸ κοράσιον, σοὶ λέγω, ἔγειρε

And taking the child by the hand, he says to her, “Talitha koum,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”note

Y tomando a la niña de la mano, le dice: «Talita cum», que traducido es: «Niña, a ti te digo, levántate.»

cross-refs⤷ 3:17

καὶ εὐθὺς ἀνέστη τὸ κοράσιον καὶ περιεπάτει, ἦν γὰρ ἐτῶν δώδεκα. καὶ ἐξέστησαν εὐθὺς ἐκστάσει μεγάλῃ.

And immediately the girl got up and began walking, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were overcome with great amazement.note

Y enseguida la niña se levantó y andaba, pues tenía doce años. Y enseguida quedaron sobrecogidos de un gran asombro.

καὶ διεστείλατο αὐτοῖς πολλὰ ἵνα μηδεὶς γνοῖ τοῦτο, καὶ εἶπεν δοθῆναι αὐτῇ φαγεῖν.

And he strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and he told them to give her something to eat.note

Y les ordenó estrictamente que nadie lo supiera, y dijo que le dieran de comer.

Translator’s Notes — verse by verse

Each note explains this translation’s choice and compares the seven versions on the shelf. Quotations from copyrighted versions (NIV, TLB, NWT) are kept to short phrases for comparison; KJV, Geneva, Douay-Rheims and ASV are public domain.

Verses 1–13 · εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Γερασηνῶν eis tēn chōran tōn Gerasēnōn — whose country, exactly?

⚠ The region's own name is disputed, and the dispute is old. KJV/RV60 read “Gadarenes,” following the Textus Receptus; ASV, NIV and NVI read “Gerasenes,” following the earlier manuscripts — the reading kept here. A third candidate, Gergesa, shows up in some witnesses too. The geography explains the argument: Gerasa (modern Jerash) sits some thirty miles from the lake, an odd anchor for a story that ends with pigs running downhill into the water in the same verse; Gadara is closer, about six miles off; a small site directly on the shore, sometimes identified as Gergesa, fits the terrain best of all. This translation follows the earlier text and lets the geographical awkwardness stand rather than solving it by picking the tidiest name.

⚠ Nobody could bind him, and Mark makes sure the reader knows it took real, repeated effort to fail. Shackles and chains, more than once, torn apart from the inside — the description exists to establish a specific kind of strength before Jesus ever speaks a word to him.

“Legion” is a loaded word to put in an unclean spirit's mouth in a Roman province: a legion was some five to six thousand soldiers, the empire's own unit of occupying force, borrowed here to describe the size of the crowd inside one man. The word choice is not neutral in a region that had Roman legions stationed nearby.

⚠ The negotiation itself is strange and Mark does not smooth it. The spirits beg to stay in the region (v10), then beg to enter the pigs (v12) — a request Jesus grants without recorded comment — and the herd's destruction (about two thousand, v13) is the direct, immediate result. The text does not explain why the second request is allowed when the first is not, or comment on the pigs' owners at all.

Verses 14–20 · ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου… καὶ ἀπάγγειλον hypage eis ton oikon sou… kai apangeilon — the one man Jesus tells to talk

⚠ The town is more afraid of the healed man than the possessed one. Verse 15 names the fear directly, at the exact moment the man is sitting, dressed, and sane — not while he was breaking chains among the tombs. What frightens them is not danger but a change in kind they cannot account for, and their response is to ask Jesus to leave (v17), the only request in this chapter he does not argue with.

⚠ This is the one clear exception to the silence Mark has kept building since chapter 1. Every other cleansed or delivered person in this Gospel so far has been told to say nothing, or has spread the word against instruction. Here Jesus does the opposite on purpose: “go home… and report” (v19). The man is a Gentile, in Gentile territory, with no synagogue audience and no crowd of scribes reading Messianic claims into a healing — the one setting in the Gospel so far where public proclamation costs nothing politically, and Jesus lifts the usual restriction exactly there.

The Decapolis (v20) — ten Greek cities east of the Jordan — is named as the man's own mission field, the first person in this Gospel commissioned to preach who is neither a fisherman nor a disciple Jesus called in person.

Verses 21–24 · τὸ θυγάτριόν μου ἐσχάτως ἔχει to thygatrion mou eschatōs echei — a ruler falls at the feet of a man his own institution distrusts

Jairus is named — unusual in Mark, where most people Jesus heals go unnamed — and titled archisynagōgos, a synagogue ruler, one of the very class of official who has already been arguing with Jesus since chapter 2 and plotting against him since chapter 3. He falls at Jesus's feet anyway, in public, for his daughter.

⚠ “My little daughter” — thygatrion, a diminutive, the kind of word a parent uses rather than an official. The urgency in v23 is medical and immediate: at the point of death, not merely ill. The crowd that follows (v24) is the same crowd that will delay him for the rest of this scene.

Verses 25–34 · τίς μου ἥψατο τῶν ἱματίων tis mou hēpsato tōn himatiōn — touched by a crowd, touched by one woman

⚠ Twelve years of bleeding (v25) sits inside a story about a twelve-year-old girl (v42) without Mark ever remarking on the coincidence — two lives measured by the same number, one running out as the other has just begun.

The woman's condition made her ritually unclean under the law (Leviticus 15:25-27), which means every person she brushed against in this crowd (v27) she technically made unclean in turn — a detail the text does not spell out but the original audience would have felt immediately. She touches Jesus anyway, from behind, expecting to go unnoticed.

“Who touched my garments?” against the disciples' — almost incredulous — “you see the crowd pressing you” (v31) draws the exact line this scene is built on: a crowd presses Jesus by accident, constantly; one person touches him on purpose, once, and the story stops for her alone. Power (dynamis) leaving him (v30) is described almost physically, a quantity that moves and can be perceived leaving, not a metaphor for attention.

“Daughter” (v34) is the only time in this Gospel Jesus calls a grown woman by this word — the same relationship-word Jairus has just used of the girl he is racing home to. Mark does not comment on the echo. It simply sits between the two halves of one interrupted errand.

Verses 35–43 · Ταλιθα κουμ talitha koum — three witnesses, one phrase left untranslated on purpose

⚠ “Peter and James and John” (v37) appear together here for the first time as a set — the same three, and only these three, Jesus will take up the mountain at the transfiguration (9:2) and further into the garden at Gethsemane (14:33). This scene is the first time Mark marks them out as a distinct inner group, before either of the later scenes gives a reason why.

The mourners' laughter (v40) at “the child is not dead but sleeping” is not politeness failing; it is people who have just been wailing (v38) switching instantly to scorn for a claim they take as obviously false — and Jesus puts all of them outside before he does anything else.

“Talitha koum” is Aramaic, the language Jesus actually spoke, kept untranslated in the Greek text and then translated immediately afterward — the same pattern this Gospel already used for “Boanerges” at 3:17. Mark preserves the actual sound of what was said before explaining it, twice now, as if the original words themselves are part of what is being reported.

⚠ The order to keep silent (v43) returns immediately after the one chapter that just broke it — a Gentile in Gentile territory was told to proclaim everywhere (v19); a Jewish official's daughter, raised in a Jewish household, is met with the opposite instruction. The text draws the line differently each time and never states the rule connecting the two decisions.

Patterns worth carrying forward

Where this translation keeps the words exact / distinct: "Gerasenes" (v1) over KJV/RV60's "Gadarenes," following the earlier manuscripts rather than the Textus Receptus; "Legion" (v9) kept as the loaded Roman military term it is, not softened to a generic "many"; "Daughter" (v34) kept as the same relationship-word Jairus uses of his own child (v23), not varied for elegance; and "Talitha koum" (v41) preserved in Aramaic and then translated, matching this Gospel's own treatment of "Boanerges" at 3:17.

Echoes paid. The inner three, Peter and James and John (v37), named together here for the first time before either later scene explains why; the silence command (v43), returning immediately after the one chapter that broke it for a Gentile audience (v19); and power going out from him (v30), described as something that moves and can be perceived leaving, not a metaphor.

Echoes planted. Peter, James, and John will be taken up the mountain at the transfiguration and further into Gethsemane — the same three, marked out first in this ordinary house in Capernaum. The twelve years shared by the woman's affliction and the girl's age (vv25, 42), left uncommented. And the Decapolis mission (v20), the first person in this Gospel sent to preach who was neither called in person nor a fisherman.

⚠ And the places the library reports rather than decides. Which region this chapter is actually set in (v1), a genuine and old textual crux, not a translation choice. Why the spirits' second request is granted when the first is refused (vv10-13), left without comment in the Greek. And why silence is commanded here (v43) but lifted entirely at v19, two decisions in one Gospel with no stated rule connecting them.

Next in this book: chapter 6 — Jesus rejected in his own hometown; the Twelve sent out two by two with nothing for the journey; the death of John the Baptist, told in full as a flashback in the middle of another story; and five thousand fed from five loaves and two fish.