Mark - 5:26



26 and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse,

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Mark 5:26.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
And had suffered many things from many physicians; and had spent all that she had, and was nothing the better, but rather worse,
and had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent everything she had and had found no advantage from it, but had rather got worse,
And had suffered many things from many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was not relieved, but rather grew worse,
and many things having suffered under many physicians, and having spent all that she had, and having profited nothing, but rather having come to the worse,
and had undergone many different treatments under a number of doctors and had spent all she had without receiving benefit but on the contrary growing worse,
And had undergone much at the hands of a number of medical men, and had given all she had, and was no better, but even worse,
And she had endured much from several physicians, and she had spent everything she owned with no benefit at all, but instead she became worse.
and undergone much at the hands of many doctors, (spending all she had without obtaining any relief, but, on the contrary, growing worse),

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Had suffered many things - Had resorted to many things painful, by the direction of the physicians, in order to be healed.

Had suffered many things of many physicians, - and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse - No person will wonder at this account, when he considers the therapeutics of the Jewish physicians in reference to hemorrhages, especially of the kind with which this woman was afflicted.
Rabbi Jochanan says: "Take of gum Alexandria, of alum, and of crocus hortensis, the weight of a zuzee each; let them be bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that hath an issue of blood. But if this fail, "Take of Persian onions nine logs, boil them in wine, and give it to her to drink: and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this fail, "Set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of wine in her hand; and let somebody come behind and affright her, and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this do no good, "Take a handful of cummin and a handful of crocus, and a handful of faenu-greek; let these be boiled, and given her to drink, and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this also fail, "Dig seven trenches, and burn in them some cuttings of vines not yet circumcised (vines not four years old); and let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let her be led from this trench and set down over that, and let her be removed from that, and set down over another: and in each removal say unto her, Arise from thy flux." Dr. Lightfoot gives these as a sample, out of many others, extracted from Bab. Shabb. fol. 110.
And from some of these nostrums it is evident the woman could not be bettered, and from some others it is as evident that she must be made worse; and from all together it is indubitably certain that she must have suffered many things; - and from the persons employed, the expense of the medicaments, and the number of years she was afflicted, as she was not a person of great opulence, it is most perfectly credible that she spent all that she had. She was therefore a fit patient for the Great Physician.
The case of this woman was a very afflicting one:
1. Because of the nature of her malady; it was such as could not be made public, without exposing her to shame and contempt.
2. It was an inveterate disorder; it had lasted twelve years.
3. It was continual; she appears to have had no interval of health.
4. Her disorder was aggravated by the medicines she used - she suffered much, etc.
5. Her malady was ruinous both to her health and circumstances - she spent all that she had.
6. She was now brought to the last point of wretchedness, want, and despair; she was growing worse, and had neither money nor goods to make another experiment to procure her health.
7. She was brought so low by her disorder as to be incapable of earning any thing to support her wretched life a little longer.
It has been said, and the saying is a good one, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." Never could the power and goodness of God be shown in a more difficult and distressful case. And now Jesus comes, and she is healed.

And had suffered many things of many physicians,.... She took many a nauseous medicine, and had gone through courses of physic with different physicians; for there were many among the Jews that pretended to the cure of fluxes; and various are the prescriptions the Jewish doctors give for such a disorder, as may be seen in their Talmud (q); and many of which Dr. Lightfoot (r) has transcribed: and among the rest, they direct to the use of gum of Alexandria, alum, saffron, Persian onions, cummin, and "faenum graecum", put into wine and drank.
And had spent all that she had; had wasted her substance, and brought herself to poverty, by pursuing the directions given her; so that she was not in circumstances now to employ a physician;
and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse: the several medicines she had taken had done her no good, had not, in the least, restrained and checked the disorder, but it was rather increased thereby. This is often the case of persons who are, in some measure, sensible of the disease of sin, but are ignorant of the proper methods to be taken for the cure of it. They apply to their own works of righteousness, moral and civil, to the duties of religion, private and public, to a legal repentance, external humiliation and tears, and an outward reformation of life, hoping hereby, in process of time, to be rid of their disorder, and be in good health; whereas these are physicians of no value, and of no real service in their case: they are so far from being the better, that they are rather worse and worse, there being so much impurity, imperfection, and sin, in all these things, and which is increased by a dependence on them; that their iniquities grow upon them, and the score of their transgressions is become greater, and their distemper the more inveterate, and less easy to be cured; yea, not only they spend their money for that which does not bring them a cure, and exhaust all the stock of nature's power to no purpose, but they also suffer much hereby. For such a course of action, such conduct and methods as these bring them into a spirit of bondage; for when they fail in their duties, do not come up to the rules prescribed them, what terror of mind possesses them! what horror and wrath does the law work in their consciences! what a fearful looking for is there of fiery indignation, to consume them! It cannot be expressed what some have suffered by following such prescriptions.
(q) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 110. 1, 2. (r) Hor. Hebrews. in loc.

And had suffered many things of many physicians--The expression perhaps does not necessarily refer to the suffering she endured under medical treatment, but to the much varied treatment which she underwent.
and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse--pitiable case, and affectingly aggravated; emblem of our natural state as fallen creatures (Ezekiel 16:5-6), and illustrating the worse than vanity of all human remedies for spiritual maladies (Hosea 5:13). The higher design of all our Lord's miracles of healing irresistibly suggests this way of viewing the present case, the propriety of which will still more appear as we proceed.

Suffered many things of many physicians. The medical art in Judea in that age was in a very crude condition. Lightfoot gives, from the Rabbinical books, the remedy for a female hemorrhage: "Let them dig seven ditches, in which let them burn some cuttings of vines under four years old. Let her take in her hand a cup of wine; let them lead her away from this ditch and make her sit over that. Let them remove her from that and sit her over another. At each removal you must say to her, 'Arise for thy flux.'" This is an illustration of what this woman suffered.

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