New Testament · Gospel

Mark 3:10

Choosing the Twelve

For He had healed so many that all who had diseases were pressing forward to touch Him. Mark 3:10 · Berean Standard Bible

What It Means

Mark 3:10, in plain English

He had healed so many people that everyone with an illness was pushing forward just to touch Him.

Why it's here

Word had spread: if you can just get close enough to touch Him, you'll be healed. The desperation was real, the hope was real, and the healings were real.

Who's speaking

Mark explains the intensity of the crowd—people were pressing in because they believed Jesus' touch could heal them.

Where it sits in the story

Imagine being sick for years, hearing that someone could actually heal you, and knowing He was just a few feet away. Of course they pressed in. Desperate hope creates unstoppable momentum.

A Closer Look

The scholar's commentary

Because Jesus had healed many (pollous etherapeusen), all who had diseases (mastiges, literally 'scourges/afflictions') were pressing forward (epipiptein) to touch Him.

Language and setting

The word mastiges ('scourges') conveys the severity of the afflictions. The physical pressing toward Jesus reflects a faith that even touch could mediate healing power (cf. Mark 5:28).

Voice

Mark explains why the crowd pressure was so intense: the sick were desperately trying to touch Jesus.

Significance

The scene was one of chaotic desperation: countless afflicted people surging toward Jesus, believing that physical contact with Him could bring healing. His track record of healing had created a tidal wave of hope.

In context

Mark 3:8–12

8Jerusalem, Idumea, the region beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him when they heard what great things He was doing.

9Jesus asked His disciples to have a boat ready for Him so that the crowd would not crush Him.

10For He had healed so many that all who had diseases were pressing forward to touch Him.

11And when the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”

12But He warned them sternly not to make Him known.

Read all of Mark 3 — A man with a withered hand, a crowd pressing in from every side, and twelve unlikely men called to change the world.

Understand every verse, not just this one

This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.

Get BibleKey

In the App

What's in the app that isn't here.

Seven translations

NIV, NLT, NKJV, KJV and the Berean — plus the Catholic NLT-CE and Douay-Rheims, with the full deuterocanon in the reading order.

Every verse, as you read

Tap any of the 31,102 for what it means, and any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, without leaving the chapter.

Selah

Start recording at church and put your phone away. You get the transcript, the key moments, and every verse referenced.

Prayer Maker

Say what's sitting on your heart and hear it back as a real prayer, in a warm voice. Keep the ones that land.

Every Word

The whole Bible in a year — five chapters a day, five days a week, weekends off. Built to be finished.

Today's Light

A verse each morning with its meaning, how it lands today, something to sit with, and a prayer to close it.

Understand every verse.

Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.

Download on the App Store

Free on iPhone & iPad