Legion and the Little Girl
Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). And at once they were utterly astounded. Mark 5:42 · Berean Standard Bible
Immediately the girl stood up and started walking around. She was twelve years old. And everyone in the room was absolutely blown away — completely astonished.
She was twelve — the same number of years the woman with the bleeding had suffered. Mark weaves these stories together with this beautiful detail: a twelve-year sickness healed, a twelve-year life restored.
Mark describes the miraculous result and the witnesses' overwhelming reaction.
She gets up. She walks around. She's alive. After the grief, the laughter, and the doubt — life wins. And the people in that room witnessed something they would never, ever forget.
The girl rises (aneste) immediately (euthys) and walks around — proof of complete restoration. Mark's parenthetical note that she was twelve years old connects her to the hemorrhaging woman's twelve years of suffering.
The number twelve links the two intertwined stories thematically. The crowd's reaction — 'utterly astounded' (exestesan ekstasei megale, a triple intensification) — marks this as the climactic miracle of Mark's first half.
Mark narrates the immediate, complete resurrection and the witnesses' astonished response.
The dead girl immediately stands and walks. She is twelve — the same number of years the hemorrhaging woman suffered. Mark's audience would not miss this profound numerical link.
40And they laughed at Him.
41Taking her by the hand, Jesus said, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”
42Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). And at once they were utterly astounded.
43Then Jesus gave strict orders that no one should know about this, and He told them to give her something to eat.
Read all of Mark 5 — A man possessed by a thousand demons, a woman who has bled for twelve years, a father whose daughter has just died — all healed in a single chapter.
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