A desperate father, a woman who had suffered twelve years, a crowded road and a twelve-year-old girl. Walk the road, look closer, and find where you are.
When Jesus came back across the Sea of Galilee, a crowd met Him. Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, fell at His feet and begged Him to come heal his twelve-year-old daughter, who was dying. Jesus went with him, and the crowd pressed in all around.
On the way, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, and had spent everything on doctors, touched His clothes from behind and was healed at once. Jesus stopped, found her, and called her “Daughter.” Just then messengers said Jairus’s daughter had died. Jesus told him, “Be not afraid, only believe,” went to the house, took the girl by the hand, and said, “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” She got up and walked.
Who’s who
Jairus: a ruler of the synagogue, a worried father
A woman: ill for twelve years
His daughter: twelve years old
Where and when
The shore of the Sea of Galilee, a crowded road and Jairus’s house.
Watch for the Savior
He was never too busy for one person, and never too late.
Eight stops from the lakeshore to Jairus’s house. Scroll, or tap a number on the map.
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The story, plainly
Four scenes: a father at His feet, a touch in the crowd, “Go in peace,” and “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” Look for the Savior in each one.
Read it plainly
The words that trip people up
Tap any dotted word for its meaning. The scripture stays exactly as written.1
Mark 5:23 “Meaning: begged. him greatly”
Mark 5:25 “an Meaning: a bleeding condition. twelve years”
Mark 5:27 “came in the Meaning: the crowd pushing in. behind”
Mark 5:30 “Meaning: power. had gone out of him”
Mark 5:39 “Why make ye this Meaning: commotion, noisy fuss., and weep?”
Mark 5:41 “Meaning: Aramaic words: “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.””
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Look closer
These are true accounts, not parables. Some cards are details in the text; others share insights from prophets and Church resources, and each card says which.
0 of 9 turned
All nine. A ruler, a bed, the crowd, spent coins, the hem, the power, the mourners, a hand and a little bread. Mark 5:21–43
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Where are you on the road?
People on this road were pleading for someone, hurting a long time, hearing bad news, or feeling unseen. Which feels most like you right now?
A next step for you
Your choice is saved only on this device.
Try it
Two stories, one Savior
Mark wove two stories together on one road. Read each detail and decide: does it belong to Jairus, or to the woman? Some details belong to both.
“Be not afraid, only believe.” Mark 5:36
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Their world, their words
A little background helps us see why these moments mattered so much. Outside sources are labeled.
Church manual
Shut out
Scripture Helps: her condition “made her ritually unclean,” so “she would have been socially shunned and excluded from the synagogue and the temple.”5
She risked a crowd to reach Him.
Apostle · Talmage
The delay
Elder Talmage: “No intimation is given that Jairus showed impatience or displeasure over the delay; he had placed trust in the Master and awaited His time and pleasure.”4
His timing tested Jairus’s faith.
Apostle · Talmage
A noisy house
Elder Talmage: the house “was a scene of tumult, but that condition was customary in the orthodox observances of mourning at the time.”4
He sent the noise out and brought peace in.
Scripture
Twelve and twelve
The woman had suffered “twelve years,” and the girl “was of the age of twelve years.”1
Two lives, the same span of years, both made whole.
Word study · Greek
kraspedon κράσπεδον · “hem” (Matthew 9:20)
Bible Hub: “Fringe, tassel, hem, border.”7Outside · lexicon
She reached for just the edge of His clothes: “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.”1
Elder Talmage: “But her touch was not unheeded by the Lord.”4
What the text does not say
The accounts don’t say that faith is a formula, or that every loved one will be raised or healed in this life. Elder Talmage notes that the girl was restored to mortal life and “had to subsequently die”; Jesus Christ “was the first of all men who have lived on earth to come forth from the tomb an immortalized Being.”4
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Look to Him
He was never too busy, never too late and never too important for one person.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: “And she was. And so will you. “Fear not: believe only.””
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Fear Not: Believe Only!” April 20226
“He had placed trust in the Master and awaited His time and pleasure.”
“If she had expected censure her fears were promptly set at rest, for Jesus, addressing her by a term of respect and kindness, said: “Daughter, be of good comfort.””
Elder Holland: “Fear not: believe only.”6 What news or worry will you bring to Him with faith this week?
Try it today
One step of faith a day. It saves on this device, one day at a time.
0 of 7 today
This week:0 of 7 days
Seven days of reaching for Him. Come again tomorrow.
A quiet moment
“Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.”
Read Mark 5:25–34 slowly. Picture yourself reaching through the crowd. Then tell Heavenly Father what you most need Jesus to heal, and listen. Mark 5:25–34
A verse to hold
Talk about it
Why do you think Jesus stopped to find the woman when Jairus’s daughter was so sick?
How do you think Jairus felt waiting? What helped him keep believing?
Jesus called the woman “Daughter.” What does that tell you about how He sees her, and you?
Who could we notice, help or pray for this week?
Open
For adults and deeper study
Go deeper
Longer readings, harder questions, and where to study next. Each one says what it is before you click.
Apostle
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Fear Not: Believe Only!” (2022)
A message to youth and those who love them, using Jairus’s story to testify of life, light and hope in Christ.6
Jairus’s faith through the delay, the healing of the woman, the mourners, “Talitha cumi,” and the difference between restoration to life and resurrection.4
Jairus’s Daughter and the Woman Who Touched His Hem, ready to print $3.99
Everything on this page as a 11-page letter-size PDF: the map, scenes, cards, activity, word studies, tracker, Go deeper and sources. For home, class or a quiet Sunday.
Jairus’s Daughter and the Woman Who Touched His Hem is part of the Scripture Story Sketch Notes for the New Testament, set alongside Come, Follow Me for March 1–7, 2027 (Matthew 9–10; Mark 5; Luke 9).
Independent study notes from Weak Things, not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. These are true accounts, not parables; the insights in “Look closer” are labeled by source.
