Bible Dictionary
ISSUE (OF BLOOD)
An issue of blood is a bodily discharge or hemorrhage. Mosaic law treated certain discharges as causing ritual uncleanness, while the Gospels describe the woman healed after suffering a long hemorrhage.
Definition
An issue of blood is a bodily discharge or hemorrhage. The expression may describe a discharge associated with uncleanness and sin, a natural hemorrhage, or bleeding resulting from disease.
Biblical Usage
Mosaic legislation treats certain bodily discharges as matters of uncleanness. The New Testament uses the expression for the woman who suffered a long hemorrhage and was healed by Jesus.
Historical Background
The supplied material distinguishes terms for discharge, hemorrhage, and a literal “fountain,” showing that the expression covered more than one bodily condition.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>(zobh, zubh; rhusis, haimorrhoos): When used as a description of a bodily affection the word signifies:</p><p>(1) A discharge, the consequence of uncleanness and sin (Le 15:2 ff; Nu 5:2). As such it was one of the judgments which were to afflict the family of Joab (2Sa 3:29);</p><p>(2) a hemorrhage, either natural (Le 12:7, where the word used is maqor, literally, a "fountain"), or the consequence of disease (Mt 9:20; Mr 5:25; Lu 8:43).</p>