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Mark 5

Mark brings desperate suffering before Jesus, whose authority over unclean spirits, disease, and death draws both faith and fear.

Jesus steps out of a boat in the country of the Gadarenes and meets a man living among the tombs, tormented by unclean spirits. After freeing him, Jesus sends him home to tell his friends what the Lord has done. Across the sea, Jairus begs Jesus to help his dying daughter. On the way, a woman who has bled for twelve years touches Jesus’ clothes. During that encounter, news comes that Jairus’s daughter has died.

illness or diagnosisparentingdeath and what comes after
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1They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs.
3He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains,
5Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
6When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him,
7and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.”
8For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
9He asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
10He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding.
12All the demons begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.”
13At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea.
15They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid.
17They began to beg him to depart from their region.
18As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.
19He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you.”
21When Jesus had crossed back over in the boat to the other side, a great multitude was gathered to him; and he was by the sea.
22Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet
23and begged him much, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live.”
24He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides.
25A certain woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years,
26and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse,
27having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes.
29Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
30Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
33But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”
35While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house, saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?”
36But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.”
37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.
38He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
39When he had entered in, he said to them, “Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep.”
40They ridiculed him. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying.
41Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha cumi!” which means, being interpreted, “Girl, I tell you, get up!”
42Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement.
43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Mark 5:7The unclean spirit recognizes Jesus as the Son of the Most High God and fears his authority.
Mark 5:23Jairus’s plea sets the urgency of the story, which grows as Jesus stops to speak with the woman.
Mark 5:34Jesus addresses the healed woman as daughter, affirming her faith and sending her away in peace.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew and Luke recount parallel encounters involving demons, the woman with bleeding, and a ruler’s daughter, sharing Mark’s witness to Jesus’ authority over affliction and death. Leviticus supplies the ritual context for prolonged bleeding, describing the uncleanness associated with such a discharge.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out to you about Jesus stopping for the woman while Jairus’s daughter is dying?

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How do the different responses to Jesus in this chapter compare with your own response to him?

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Questions people ask about Mark 5

Why did Jesus let the demons enter the pigs in Mark 5?

The demons ask to enter the pigs, and Jesus permits them. Mark records the herd’s destruction and the people’s fear, but does not explain Jesus’ reason for granting the request. The account makes clear that the spirits act under his permission and that the man is freed from their torment.

Does Mark 5:34 mean enough faith will always bring healing?

Jesus connects this woman’s faith with her healing, and Mark presents her trust in him as central to the encounter. The verse describes what happened to her; it does not promise that every person with faith will receive the same cure. It gives no basis for blaming sick people for remaining ill.

Was Jairus’s daughter dead or asleep in Mark 5?

The messengers report that she has died, and the mourners ridicule Jesus when he describes her as asleep. Mark presents Jesus taking her hand and raising her, after which she walks and is given food. His language of sleep points to death’s temporary hold on this child under his authority.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).