Mark 3:8

8 also from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon - swarms of people who had heard the reports and had come to see for themselves.

Mark 3:8 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 3:8

And from Jerusalem
The metropolis of the country of Judea;

and from Idumea,
or Edom, as the Syriac version reads it; a country that lay on the south of Judea, formerly inhabited by the sons of Edom, but now by Jews; or at least the inhabitants of it were proselytes to the Jewish religion. Mention is made of the plains of Idumea, along with Gazera, Azotus, and Jamnia, as in 1 Maccabees:

``Howbeit all the hindmost of them were slain with the sword: for they pursued them unto Gazera, and unto the plains of Idumea, and Azotus, and Jamnia, so that there were slain of them upon a three thousand men.'' (1 Maccabees 4:15)

Pliny ^F20 speaks of Idumea and Judea together, as a part of Syria; and Ptolemy says ^F21, this country lies on the west of the river Jordan; and it is here added,

and from beyond Jordan;
the country of Peraea, on the east of Jordan:

and they about Tyre and Sidon;
either the inhabitants of these places, as the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions favour, reading "a great company from Tyre and Sidon"; or those that lived near the borders, and upon the confines of these cities of Phoenicia:

a great multitude;
when all met together, from these several parts; who

when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him:
for his fame went through all the countries, for the miracles he wrought; which drew this vast concourse of people after him; and who, inquiring where he was, came to him at the sea of Galilee.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 12.
F21 Geograph. l. 5. c. 16.

Mark 3:8 In-Context

6 The Pharisees got out as fast as they could, sputtering about how they would join forces with Herod's followers and ruin him.

7 Jesus went off with his disciples to the sea to get away. But a huge crowd from Galilee trailed after them -

8 also from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon - swarms of people who had heard the reports and had come to see for themselves.

9 He told his disciples to get a boat ready so he wouldn't be trampled by the crowd.

10 He had healed many people, and now everyone who had something wrong was pushing and shoving to get near and touch him.