Greek word · G4511

ῥύσις

rysis

discharge

Rhysis is a noun meaning "a flowing" or "a stream", from rheō, "to flow". In medical Greek it means a discharge or flux of any bodily fluid. With haimatos ("of blood") it means a continuing bleeding. The New Testament uses it only for this woman (Mark 5:25; Luke 8:43, 44).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ῥύσις, -εως, ἡ

(ῥέω), [in LXX chiefly for זוֹב ;]

a flowing, issue: τ. αἵματος, Mark 5:25, Luke 8:43-44.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Luke 8:43

Range of meaning

Rhysis is a noun meaning "a flowing" or "a stream", from rheō, "to flow". In medical Greek it means a discharge or flux of any bodily fluid. With haimatos ("of blood") it means a continuing bleeding. The New Testament uses it only for this woman (Mark 5:25; Luke 8:43, 44).

Against the English

KJV and YLT have "issue of blood", WEB "flow of blood", BSB "bleeding", ESV "discharge of blood", NASB "hemorrhage". "Flow" and "discharge" keep the sense of something that keeps running. "Hemorrhage" sounds like a sudden emergency to modern ears, though the condition was chronic. "Issue" is accurate old English (an "issue" is an outflow) but is now misleading (see drift).

How it drifted

"Issue" meant "outflow" in 1611. Today it mostly means "problem", so "an issue of blood" can sound like a general blood disorder.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), Leviticus 15:25, describes "a woman, if she flows with a flow of blood (rhysei haimatos) many days, not at the time of her separation". This is the law of the zavah, the woman with irregular bleeding. Mark 5:25 has the same phrase as Luke. Matthew 9:20 uses a single compound word, haimorroousa, "bleeding". Greek medical writers, including the Hippocratic treatises on women's diseases, use rhoos and related words for menstrual and uterine flows.

From the study of Mark 5:25

Range of meaning

A flowing, flow or stream. In ancient Greek it was used of rivers and liquids in general and, in bodily and medical contexts, of discharges from the body (LSJ). In the New Testament it occurs only in this story (Mark 5:25; Luke 8:43, 44).

Against the English

KJV/YLT "issue" (older English for an outflow), WEB/ESV "discharge," NIV/BSB "bleeding," NASB "hemorrhage." "Discharge" keeps the link with Leviticus 15 best. "Hemorrhage" can suggest a sudden, violent bleed, while the Greek pictures a chronic, ongoing flow.

How it drifted

The KJV's "issue" was an exact rendering in 1611, when "issue" meant an outflow (from Old French for 'going out'). Modern readers tend to hear "a problem" instead.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) uses ῥύσις throughout Leviticus 15 for the Hebrew zov, 'flow, discharge'. Leviticus 15:25 reads, nearly word for word like Mark: γυνή, ἐὰν ῥέῃ ῥύσει αἵματος ἡμέρας πλείους, 'a woman, if she flows with a flow of blood many days' outside her normal period. Later Jewish law built a whole tractate (Mishnah Zavim) and much of Mishnah Niddah on this category. Ancient medical writers (the Hippocratic 'Diseases of Women', later Soranus) discuss chronic uterine 'fluxes' and their remedies.

Where it appears

Mark · 1

  1. Mark 5:25 ῥύσει a flux

    And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.

    Here: A flowing or discharge. The same word appears in the Greek Old Testament's law on a woman's abnormal bleeding (Leviticus 15:25), so Jewish hearers would recognise the category she belonged to.

Luke · 2

  1. Luke 8:43 ῥύσει a flux

    including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.

    Here: A flowing, a running discharge, from the verb "to flow". It is the same wording the Greek Leviticus uses (15:25) for a woman's abnormal bleeding outside her normal period.

  2. Luke 8:44 ῥύσις flux

    She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.