Jesus knew "in himself that virtue had gone out of him." He was not asking because He was unaware. Barnes says, "This he said, not to obtain information, for he had healed her, and must have known on whom the blessing was conferred; but he did it that the woman might herself make a confession." Matthew Henry adds that He asked "not in displeasure, as one affronted, but in tenderness, as one concerned." She had come "in the press behind" (Mark 5:27), and Luke says she came forward when she "saw that she was not hid" (Luke 8:47). Jesus' question gave her the chance to meet Him face to face. Gill notes one more purpose: it served "for the strengthening the faith of Jairus, who was with him, and with whom he was going."

The disciples answered first with a question of their own: "Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?" (Mark 5:31). Jesus kept looking: "he looked round about to see her that had done this thing" (Mark 5:32). Then the woman, "fearing and trembling," came and fell down before Him "and told him all the truth" (Mark 5:33). Jesus answered her with blessing: "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague" (Mark 5:34). Luke adds that she came when she "saw that she was not hid" (Luke 8:47).

The KJV word "virtue" means power. Barnes explains: "Power to heal. The word in the original means power." The Greek is dynamis, the same word used for "mighty works" in Mark 6:2.

The woman's condition mattered under the Law. A woman with an ongoing issue of blood was counted unclean, and so was anything she lay or sat upon (Leviticus 15:25-27). Barnes says, "This disease was by the Jews reckoned unclean," and so she was "unwilling to make personal application to Jesus." That helps explain why she came "in the press behind" (Mark 5:27). She had also spent all she had on physicians for twelve years and only grew worse (Mark 5:26).

This question shows that Jesus wants to meet people, not only to help them. The woman received healing the moment she touched Him (Mark 5:29). Jesus could have let her go. Instead He stopped, turned, and asked, so that she would hear His voice and receive His word over her life. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary observes, "As secret acts of sin, so secret acts of faith, are known to the Lord Jesus."

His words to her went beyond her body. He called her "Daughter," named her faith, and sent her away "in peace" (Mark 5:34). A woman who had suffered for twelve years (Mark 5:25) was brought near in front of everyone. And the whole scene unfolded while Jairus waited, just before the news that his own daughter had died (Mark 5:35).