Mark 8:24

Modern

The man looked up and said, “I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around.”

Traditional

And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

Literal

And having looked up, he was saying, “I see the men, because I see them as trees walking.”

Latin

Et aspiciens, ait: Video homines velut arbores ambulantes.

Greek

English

The man looked up and said, “I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around.”

The healing was not immediate. At first, the man saw imperfectly. After Jesus touched him a second time, he fully healed the man.

Who is this man who calms the sea and heals the blind? Peter reveals this in the next account. He is the Christ (8:29).

Earlier, Jesus and the disciples tried to go to Bethsaida but did not succeed (6:45). Here, they arrive, and Jesus heals a blind man. Only Mark describes this two-part healing. It might connect to how the disciples came to a new spiritual understanding in the next story (8:27–38).
John 1:44 says Bethsaida is the home of Peter, Andrew, James, and John (see also John 12:21). This small fishing village was officially part of Gaulanitis. But people usually considered it part of Galilee (John 12:21). It was relocated and given status as a city by Philip the Tetrarch (Josephus, Antiquities 18.2.1).

Isaiah 29:18
On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
1 Corinthians 13:9–12
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
Isaiah 32:3
Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
Judges 9:36
When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountains!” But Zebul replied, “The shadows of the mountains look like men to you.”