What Does Mark 15:40 Mean?
There were also women watching from afar, among them Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the little and of Joses, and Salome,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;THE KEY
The distance marks where the women stand, not whether they are present as witnesses.
THE MEANING
Distance can limit how near a person stands without erasing the reality of what they witness. The women remain individually named within the scene, not absorbed into a faceless crowd. What they see still counts, even from the edge.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You have to be close to the center of a crisis for your presence to matter.
THE ROOT
μακρόθεν
makrothen
GROWS FROM
μακρ
makr
Long or extended; of space, far away.
The word marks distance as a vantage point; it does not make the act of seeing less real. English can make “afar off” sound like absence, while the Greek leaves the women’s watching intact.
ALSO GROWS
makros: Long; far.
μακρός
This branch shows the shared root’s sense of extension through space or time.
makran: Far away; at a distance.
μακράν
This related form makes the spatial sense plain: distance describes position, not whether someone sees.
THE PATTERN
Seeing from afar remains seeing; distance changes the vantage point, not the reality of witness.
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place from far off.In trust all these died, not having brought home the promises, but seeing them from far off, and embracing them, and saying together that they were strangers and those passing through on the earth.THE THREAD
In trust all these died, not having brought home the promises, but seeing them from far off, and embracing them, and saying together that they were strangers and those passing through on the earth.Both verses use μακρόθεν (makrothen), meaning “from afar.” In Mark, the women watch from a distance; in Hebrews, people see promises from a distance. The shared word makes clear that distance describes the reach of sight, not its absence.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us