The Meaning of Luke 8:43 Explained

Luke 8:43

KJV: And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,

YLT: and a woman, having an issue of blood for twelve years, who, having spent on physicians all her living, was not able to be healed by any,

Darby: And a woman who had a flux of blood since twelve years, who, having spent all her living on physicians, could not be cured by any one,

ASV: And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  a woman  having  an issue  of blood  twelve  years,  which  had spent  all  her living  upon  physicians,  neither  could  be healed  of  any, 

What does Luke 8:43 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 8:40-56 - Tender Ministry To Maid And Woman
The story of the poor woman has been characterized as that of "Nobody, Somebody and Everybody." Nobody, for she was sick and poor and fearful. Somebody, for she was worthy of Christ's notice. He healed her and even stayed His progress to the house of Jairus to elicit her frank confession and pronounce a further word of peace. Everybody, for her story not only helped Jairus, but has been a blessing to mankind; because we also have been the round of physicians but Jesus only has sufficed for our need.
It is a distressing thing to see a child die! Small wonder that Jairus was impatient for Christ's help. The incident of the woman was permitted for his teaching and encouragement. We lose nothing when we await the Lord's leisure. On the contrary, we profit.
Christ needed the companionship of the Apostles because their faith counted. Do not mind small numbers; they are often the condition of Christ's mightiest achievements. He will do what man cannot do, and leave man to do his little part. "Give her to eat."
For Review Questions, see the e-Sword Book Comments. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 8

1  Women minister unto Jesus of their own means
4  Jesus, after he had preached from place to place,
9  explains the parable of the sower,
16  and the candle;
19  declares who are his mother, and brothers;
22  rebukes the winds;
26  casts the legion of demons out of the man into the herd of pigs;
37  is rejected by the Gadarenes;
43  heals the woman of her bleeding;
49  and raises Jairus's daughter from death

Greek Commentary for Luke 8:43

Had spent all her living upon physicians [εις ιατρους προσαναλωσασα ολον τον βιον]
First aorist active participle of an old verb προσαναλισκω — prosanaliskō only here in the N.T. But Westcott and Hort reject this clause because it is not in B D Syriac Sinaitic. Whether genuine or not, the other clause in Mark 5:26 certainly is not in Luke: “had suffered many things of many physicians.” Probably both are not genuine in Luke who takes care of the physicians by the simple statement that it was a chronic case: could not be healed of any He omitted also what Mark has: “and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse.” [source]
Had spent [προσαναλώσασα]
Only here in New Testament. Some texts omit who had spent all her living upon physicians. Luke, with professional sensitiveness, omits Mark's statement that she had suffered many things from many physicians, and was not bettered but made worse. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 8:43

Mark 5:26 And was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse []
Luke's professional pride as a physician kept him from such a statement. Compare Luke 8:43. [source]
Mark 5:26 Had spent all that she had [δαπανησασα τα παρ αυτης παντα]
Having spent the all from herself, all her resources. For the idiom with παρα — para see note on Luke 10:7; Philemon 4:18. The tragedy of it was that she “was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse” Her money was gone, her disease was gaining on her, her one chance came now with Jesus. Matthew says nothing about her experience with the doctors and Luke 8:43 merely says that she “had spent all her living upon physicians and could not be healed of any,” a plain chronic case. Luke the physician neatly takes care of the physicians. But they were not to blame. She had a disease that they did not know how to cure. Vincent quotes a prescription for an issue of blood as given in the Talmud which gives one a most grateful feeling that he is not under the care of doctors of that nature. The only parallel today is Chinese medicine of the old sort before modern medical schools came. [source]
Luke 21:34 Of this life [βιωτικαῖς]
The rendering is too general; though it might be difficult to give a better. Βίος , life, means life considered either as to its duration (1 Peter 4:3); the means of support (Mark 12:44; Luke 8:43; Luke 21:4; 1 John 3:17); or the manner of leading it (1 Timothy 2:2). The meaning here is pertaining to the support or luxury of life; and so in the only other passages where it occurs, 1 Corinthians 6:3, 1 Corinthians 6:4. The parallel is Matthew 6:31. Wyc., business of this life. [source]
Luke 6:19 Sought to touch him [εζητουν απτεσται αυτου]
Imperfect active. One can see the surging, eager crowd pressing up to Jesus. Probably some of them felt that there was a sort of virtue or magic in touching his garments like the poor woman in Luke 8:43. (Mark 5:23; Matthew 9:21). [source]
John 1:4 In Him was life [ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν]
He was the fountain of life - physical, moral, and eternal - its principle and source. Two words for life are employed in the New Testament: βίος and ζωὴ . The primary distinction is that ζωὴ means existence as contrasted with death, and βίος , the period, means, or manner of existence. Hence βίος is originally the higher word, being used of men, while ζωὴ is used of animals ( ζῶα ). We speak therefore of the discussion of the life and habits of animals as zoo logy; and of accounts of men's lives as bio graphy. Animals have the vital principle in common with men, but men lead lives controlled by intellect and will, and directed to moral and intellectual ends. In the New Testament, βίος means either living, i.e., means of subsistence (Mark 12:44; Luke 8:43), or course of life, life regarded as an economy (Luke 8:14; 1 Timothy 2:2; 2 Timothy 2:4). Ζωὴ occurs in the lower sense of life, considered principally or wholly as existence (1 Peter 3:10; Acts 8:33; Acts 17:25; Hebrews 7:3). There seems to be a significance in the use of the word in Luke 16:25: “Thou in thy lifetime ( ἐν τῇ ζωῇ σου ) receivedst thy good things;” the intimation being that the rich man's life had been little better than mere existence, and not life at all in the true sense. But throughout the New Testament ζωὴ is the nobler word, seeming to have changed places with βίος . It expresses the sum of mortal and eternal blessedness (Matthew 25:46; Luke 18:30; John 11:25; Acts 2:28; Romans 5:17; Romans 6:4), and that not only in respect of men, but also of God and Christ. So here. Compare John 5:26; John 14:6; 1 John 1:2. This change is due to the gospel revelation of the essential connection of sin with death, and consequently, of life with holiness. “Whatever truly lives, does so because sin has never found place in it, or, having found place for a time, has since been overcome and expelled” (Trench). Ζωὴ is a favorite word with John. See John 11:25; John 14:6; John 8:12; 1 John 1:2; 1 John 5:20; John 6:35, John 6:48; John 6:63; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1, Revelation 22:17; Revelation 7:17; John 4:14; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 22:2, Revelation 22:14, Revelation 22:19; John 12:50; John 17:3; John 20:31; John 5:26; John 6:53, John 6:54; John 5:40; John 3:15, John 3:16, John 3:36; John 10:10; John 5:24; John 12:25; John 6:27; John 4:36; 1 John 5:12, 1 John 5:16; John 6:51.Was the Light of men ( ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων )Passing from the thought of creation in general to that of mankind, who, in the whole range of created things, had a special capacity for receiving the divine. The Light - the peculiar mode of the divine operation upon men, conformably to their rational and moral nature which alone was fitted to receive the light of divine truth. It is not said that the Word was light, but that the life was the light. The Word becomes light through the medium of life, of spiritual life, just as sight is a function of physical life. Compare John 14:6, where Christ becomes the life through being the truth; and Matthew 5:8, where the pure heart is the medium through which God is beheld. In whatever mode of manifestation the Word is in the world, He is the light of the world; in His works, in the dawn of creation; in the happy conditions of Eden; in the Patriarchs, in the Law and the Prophets, in His incarnation, and in the subsequent history of the Church. Compare John 9:5. Of men, as a class, and not of individuals only. [source]
2 Timothy 2:4 In the affairs of this life [ταῖς τοῦ βίου πραγματίαις]
Better, affairs of life. Not as A.V. verse implies, in contrast with the affairs of the next life, but simply the ordinary occupations of life. In N.T., βίος means either means of subsistence, as Mark 12:44; Luke 8:43; 1 John 3:17; or course of life, as Luke 8:14. Βίος PoHim who hath chosen him to be a soldier ( τῷ στρατολογήσαντι )N.T.oolxx. Better, enrolled him as a soldier. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 8:43 mean?

And a woman being with a flux of blood for years twelve who on physicians having spent all her living neither was able by no one to be healed
καὶ γυνὴ οὖσα ἐν ῥύσει αἵματος ἀπὸ ἐτῶν δώδεκα ἥτις ‹ἰατροῖς προσαναλώσασα ὅλον τὸν βίον› οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ἀπ’ οὐδενὸς θεραπευθῆναι

γυνὴ  a  woman 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: γυνή  
Sense: a woman of any age, whether a virgin, or married, or a widow.
οὖσα  being 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
ῥύσει  a  flux 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: ῥύσις  
Sense: a flowing issue.
αἵματος  of  blood 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root: αἷμα  
Sense: blood.
ἐτῶν  years 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Plural
Root: ἔτος  
Sense: year.
δώδεκα  twelve 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Neuter Plural
Root: δώδεκα  
Sense: twelve.
‹ἰατροῖς  on  physicians 
Parse: Noun, Dative Masculine Plural
Root: ἰατρός  
Sense: a physician.
προσαναλώσασα  having  spent 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: προσαναλίσκω 
Sense: to expend besides (i.
τὸν  her 
Parse: Article, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
βίον›  living 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: βίος  
Sense: life.
οὐκ  neither 
Parse: Adverb
Root: οὐ  
Sense: no, not; in direct questions expecting an affirmative answer.
ἴσχυσεν  was  able 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἰσχύω  
Sense: to be strong.
οὐδενὸς  no  one 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root: οὐδείς 
Sense: no one, nothing.
θεραπευθῆναι  to  be  healed 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Passive
Root: θεραπεύω  
Sense: to serve, do service.