One blind man or two, leaving Jericho or coming near it?

Difficult Passages · Accounts of the Same Event

One blind man or two, leaving Jericho or coming near it?

Luke tells of a man healed before Jesus entered Jericho; Matthew and Mark of two as He left, Mark naming one of them.

The Passages

Matthew 20:29-34

29 And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. 30 And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. 31 And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. 32 And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? 33 They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. 34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.

Mark 10:46-52

46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. 50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

The Difficulty

Matthew says that “as they departed from Jericho … two blind men sitting by the way side” cried to Him (Matthew 20:29–30). Mark tells of one, “blind Bartimaeus,” healed “as he went out of Jericho” (Mark 10:46). Luke tells of “a certain blind man” healed “as he was come nigh unto Jericho” (Luke 18:35). Two men or one; going out or coming in?

The Answer

Preferred: these are two healings, not one told three ways. Luke places his before Jesus entered the city, and then goes on: “And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho” (Luke 19:1), and the story of Zacchaeus follows. Matthew and Mark tell of what happened on the way out. Mark names Bartimaeus, the better known of the two Matthew mentions; he doesn’t say there was only one, and Matthew doesn’t say there were only two blind men healed at Jericho. The cry “Son of David, have mercy” was the natural cry of any blind man who had heard of Him.

Also given: Luke’s word (engizō) can mean to be near, not only to draw near, so that he too may be telling of the healing outside the city, mentioning one man as Mark does (Haley). Gill rejects this because Luke goes on to say Jesus then entered Jericho.

The accounts differ in what each tells; none of them denies what another says.

Sources

John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament, vol. 1 (1746–48), p. 206, on Matthew 20:30

Mark and Luke make mention but of one; which is no contradiction to Matthew; for they neither of them say that there was but one. … To me it seems, that there were three blind men cured; one before he went into Jericho, which Luke only relates, and two as he came out of Jericho.

Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the first edition, 2026-10-23
John W. Haley, An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible (1874), pp. 386–387

Some think there were three blind men healed, — one when Jesus entered the city, the other two when he left it.

Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the 1874 edition, 2026-10-19