Mark 5 is the fifth chapter of the
Gospel of Mark in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
of the
Christian Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
. Taken with the
calming of the sea in , there are "four striking
works
Works may refer to:
People
* Caddy Works (1896–1982), American college sports coach
* Samuel Works (c. 1781–1868), New York politician
Albums
* '' ''Works'' (Pink Floyd album)'', a Pink Floyd album from 1983
* ''Works'', a Gary Burton album ...
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
follow each other without a break": an
exorcism
Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...
, a
healing
With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...
, and the
raising of Jairus' daughter
The raising of Jairus' daughter is a reported miracle of Jesus that occurs in the synoptic Gospels, where it is interwoven with the account of the healing of a bleeding woman. The narratives can be found in Mark 5:21–43, Matthew 9:18–26 ...
.
Text
The original text was written in
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
.
This chapter is divided into 43 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
*
Codex Vaticanus
The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...
(325-350; complete)
*
Codex Sinaiticus
The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...
(330-360; complete)
*
Codex Bezae
The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...
(~400; complete)
*
Codex Alexandrinus
The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...
(400-440; complete)
*
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; complete)
Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac
![Healing of the demon-possessed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Healing_of_the_demon-possessed.jpg)
Jesus and his
disciples travel to the non-Jewish country of the
Gerasenes (some manuscripts have "Gadarenes" to harmonize with ) across the
Sea of Galilee by boat, a region that is in modern-day
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
.
Tom Wright notes that "why Jesus went to that bit of territory we'll never know", although
Johann Bengel infers that many Jews dwelt there.
A
possessed man comes to meet them. Mark relates the story "with a wealth of circumstantial detail":
[ Tuckett, C. M., ''Mark'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001)]
The Oxford Bible Commentary
p. 897 the man had lived in nearby
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
s, and had fought off all attempts to chain him up: the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
text has a complex string of negatives: οὐδὲ ἁλύσει οὐκέτι οὐδεὶς, ''oude halysei ouketi oudeis'', ''no one, no longer, not even with chains''.
[Meyer, H. A. W. (1880)]
Meyer's NT Commentary
on Mark 5, accessed 7 June 2017 He now roamed the tombs and hills screaming.
The man falls at Jesus' feet and begs Jesus not to harm him. Jesus asks him what his name is and he replies "My name is
Legion
Legion may refer to:
Military
* Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army
* Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army
* Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...
, ... for we are many". Legion may be a reference to the
Roman army
The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...
.
[Miller, Robert J., editor, ''The Complete Gospels'', Polebridge Press 1994, p. 24] They see some nearby
pigs
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...
and the
demons ask if they can be put in the pigs, to which Jesus consents. The pigs, about 2000 of them (only Mark's account estimates the numbers), then rush into the lake and are
drowned
Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer as ...
.
The people tending the pigs run off to town telling everyone what has happened, and some townspeople come to see for themselves. When they arrive the man is sitting dressed and
sane. They are disturbed and ask Jesus to leave the area, and he complies. Out of "grateful love",
the man asks Jesus to let him be with him ( gr, ινα μετ αυτου η, ''hina met autou e''), translated as "stay with him" in the
Jerusalem Bible
''The Jerusalem Bible'' (JB or TJB) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonica ...
, but Jesus tells him to go home to his "family" (
Amplified Bible
''The Amplified Bible'' (AMP) is an English language translation of the Bible produced jointly by Zondervan and The Lockman Foundation. The first edition as a complete volume was published in 1965. “Amplifications” are words or phrases int ...
) or to his "people" (
New International Version) and tell them what
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
has done for him. The man then travels over the
Decapolis
The Decapolis (Greek: grc, Δεκάπολις, Dekápolis, Ten Cities, label=none) was a group of ten Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BCE and CE. They formed a group ...
telling people the story. Protestant theologian
Heinrich Meyer
Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer (10 January 1800 – 21 June 1873) was a German Protestant divine. He wrote commentaries on the ''New Testament'' and published an edition of that book.
Biography
Meyer was born in Gotha. He studied theology at Jena, ...
suggests that "he was to abide in his native place as a witness and proclaimer of the marvellous deliverance, that he had experienced from God through Jesus, and in this way to serve the work of Christ".
Anglican biblical scholar
Christopher Tuckett
Christopher M. Tuckett is a British biblical scholar and Anglican priest. He holds the Title of Distinction of Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.
Early life
Tuckett finish ...
argues that "a number of details and inconsistencies within the present narrative suggest that Mark may be combining more than one tradition here into a single story":
*verse 2 has the man "immediately" meet him as Jesus has come out of the boat, whereas verse 6 says that "when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him"
*verse 8 interrupts a dialogue which otherwise appears to flow from verse 7 to verse 9
*verse 15 seems odd after verse 14, since the latter presupposes a considerable time lapse.
This story also occurs in
Matthew , where there are ''two'' possessed men, and in
Luke .
Jairus' daughter and the woman who touched Jesus' garment
![Healing of a bleeding women Marcellinus-Peter-Catacomb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Healing_of_a_bleeding_women_Marcellinus-Peter-Catacomb.jpg)
On the other side of the lake Jesus is met by a man named Jairus, a
Synagogue Ruler (a rich patron of the local house of worship),
who begs Jesus to heal his sick, twelve-year-old daughter. Jesus takes only
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
,
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguati ...
, and
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
. This story does not occur in the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
. On the way there, a woman who suffers from chronic "bleeding", perhaps
menorrhagia or bleeding from
fibroids. She sneaks up to Jesus and touches his garment, according to and (see also ,
Mark 6#Healing of the sick of Gennesaret) the
"fringe of his cloak"Jewish Encyclopedia: Jesus
"Jesus wore the Ẓiẓit (Matt. ix. 20)"
Strong's Concordance G2899
Walter Bauer
Walter Bauer (; 8 August 1877 – 17 November 1960) was a German theologian, lexicographer of New Testament Greek, and scholar of the development of Early Christianity.
Life
Bauer was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, and raised in Marburg, ...
's ''Greek-English Lexicon of the NT'', 3rd ed., 1979: ": 1. edge, border, hem of a garment - But meaning 2 is also possible for these passages, depending on how strictly Jesus followed Mosaic law, and also upon the way in which was understood by the authors and first readers of the gospels. 2. tassel (ציצת), which the Israelite was obligated to wear on the four corners of his outer garment, according to Num 15:38f; Dt 22:12. ... Of the Pharisees ... Mt 23:5."
Catholic Encyclopedia: Fringes (in Scripture)
"It was very likely the tassel of the corner thus thrown over Our Lord's shoulder that the woman with the issue of blood touched ("behind him"), in the circumstance recorded in Matt., ix, 20, and Luke, viii, 44." See also Christianity and fringed garments
Christianity and fringed garments refers to the mention of fringed garments in Christian sources, and to their use in Christian ritual, and to the possible connection to Jewish ''tzitzit'' and ''tallit''.
New Testament
says:
similarly says: ...
. ( - NRSV), by which she is healed. He turns to see who and she fearfully confesses. He says "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
Men arrive and tell Jairus that his daughter is dead. Jesus brushes them off and says "Don't be afraid; just believe." They arrive at the house and everyone is crying loudly. Jesus assures everyone she is not dead, just asleep, goes inside and says to her ''Talitha kum
Talitha Kum (or the International Network of Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons) is an organization of Catholic nuns established by the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) in 2009. The group works to end human-traffickin ...
'', telling her to get up, and she does. Unlike his advice about the demon-possessed man, he tells them ''not'' to tell people of these events.
This account also appears in Matthe
9:18-26
and Luk
8:40-56
Luke keeps the stories of the possessed man and the two women together, but Matthew inserts the story of the paralyzed man, the calling of Matthew, and the parable of the wineskins found in Mark 2 between these two stories.
References
Sources
*Brown, Raymond E. et al., ''The New Jerome Biblical Commentary'', Prentice Hall, 1990
*Miller, Robert J.-Editor, ''The Complete Gospels'' Polebridge Press 1994.
External links
* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mark 05
Gospel of Mark chapters