Mark 8:23 BSB — MannaFest

Mark 8:23

So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught?

KJV

And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

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Commentary

1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

Led him out of the town - Why this was done the sacred writers have not told us. It might have been to avoid the collecting of a multitude, and thus to have escaped the designs of the Pharisees who were attempting to take his life, and chiefly on a charge of sedition and of exciting the people.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He could have cured him, as he did others, with a word speaking, but thus he was pleased to assist his faith which was very weak, and to help him against his unbelief. And this spittle signified the eye-salve wherewith Christ anoints the eyes of those that are spiritually blind, Rev. iii. That the cure was wrought gradually, which was not usual in Christ's miracles.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He had some glimmerings of sight, and betwixt him and the sky could perceive a man erect like a tree, but could not discern the form thereof, Job iv. Christ never doeth his work by the halves, nor leaves it till he can say, It is finished.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

J.C. Ryle

1816–1900

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)

We do not know the reason of the peculiar means employed by our Lord Jesus Christ, in working the miracle recorded in these verses. We see a blind man miraculously healed. We know that a word from our Lord's mouth, or a touch of His hand would have been sufficient to effect a cure. But we see Jesus taking this blind man by the hand — leading him out of the town — spitting on his eyes — putting His hands on him, and then, and not until then, restoring his sight.

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 701: “Seeing And Not Seeing—Or, Men As Trees Walking” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1866)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

26 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
καὶ	kai	And	G2532 →
ἐπιλαβόμενος	epilabomenos	having taken hold of	G1949 →
τῆς	tēs	the	G3588 →
χειρὸς	cheiros	hand	G5495 →
τοῦ	tou	of the	G3588 →
τυφλοῦ	tuphlou	blind [man]	G5185 →
ἐξήνεγκεν	exēnegken	he brought	G1627 →
αὐτὸν	auton	him	G846 →
ἔξω	exō	out	G1854 →
τῆς	tēs	of the	G3588 →
κώμης,	kōmēs	village,	G2968 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
πτύσας	ptusas	having spit	G4429 →
εἰς	eis	upon	G1519 →
τὰ	ta	the	G3588 →
ὄμματα	ommata	eyes	G3659 →
αὐτοῦ,	autou	of him,	G846 →
ἐπιθεὶς	epitheis	having laid	G2007 →
τὰς	tas	the	G3588 →
χεῖρας	cheiras	hands	G5495 →
αὐτῷ	autō	upon him	G846 →
ἐπηρώτα	epērōta	He was asking	G1905 →
αὐτόν·	auton	him:	G846 →
εἴ	ei	if	G1487 →
τι	ti	anything	G5100 →
βλέπεις;	blepeis	you see?	G991 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Acts 9:8
Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.
leads to
- Acts 22:11
  Because the brilliance of the light had blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus.
- Acts 9:18
  At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,
- 2 Kings 6:17–20
  Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and…
Through
Mark 7:33
So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.
leads to
- John 9:6–7
  When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes.
- Mark 5:40
  And they laughed at Him. After He had put them all outside, He took the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and went in to see the child.
Through
Mark 5:23
and pleaded with Him urgently, “My little daughter is near death. Please come and place Your hands on her, so that she will be healed and live.”
leads to
- Luke 13:13
  Then He placed His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and began to glorify God.
- Luke 4:40
  At sunset, all who were ill with various diseases were brought to Jesus, and laying His hands on each one, He healed them.
- Mark 16:18
  they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”