1 Samuel 14:37

14:37 So Saul asked God, “Should I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.

1 Samuel 28:6

28:6 So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him – not by dreams nor by Urim ¹  nor by the prophets.

Ezekiel 14:3

14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ²  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ³  me?

Matthew 17:16-21

17:16 I brought him to your disciples, but ⁴  they were not able to heal him.” 17:17 Jesus answered, ⁵  “You ⁶  unbelieving ⁷  and perverse generation! How much longer ⁸  must I be with you? How much longer must I endure ⁹  you? ¹⁰  Bring him here to me.” 17:18 Then ¹¹  Jesus rebuked ¹²  the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment. 17:19 Then the disciples came ¹³  to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 17:20 He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, ¹⁴  if you have faith the size of ¹⁵  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ¹⁶  will be impossible for you.”

17:21 [[EMPTY]] ¹⁷ 

Mark 9:19-29

9:19 He answered them, ¹⁸  “You ¹⁹  unbelieving ²⁰  generation! How much longer ²¹  must I be with you? How much longer must I endure ²²  you? ²³  Bring him to me.” 9:20 So they brought the boy ²⁴  to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He ²⁵  fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 9:21 Jesus ²⁶  asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 9:22 It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 9:23 Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ ²⁷  All things are possible for the one who believes.” 9:24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

9:25 Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked ²⁸  the unclean spirit, ²⁹  saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 9:26 It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out. The boy ³⁰  looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He is dead!” 9:27 But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.

9:28 Then, ³¹  after he went into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 9:29 He told them, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” ³² 

Acts 19:13-17

19:13 But some itinerant ³³  Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name ³⁴  of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by ³⁵  evil spirits, saying, “I sternly warn ³⁶  you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 19:14 (Now seven sons of a man named ³⁷  Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.) ³⁸  19:15 But the evil spirit replied to them, ³⁹  “I know about Jesus ⁴⁰  and I am acquainted with ⁴¹  Paul, but who are you?” ⁴²  19:16 Then the man who was possessed by ⁴³  the evil spirit jumped on ⁴⁴  them and beat them all into submission. ⁴⁵  He prevailed ⁴⁶  against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded. 19:17 This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, ⁴⁷  both Jews and Greeks; fear came over ⁴⁸  them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. ⁴⁹ 

¹ sn See the note at 1 Sam 14:41.

² tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.

³ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).

⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

⁵ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

⁶ tn Grk “O.” The marker of direct address, ὦ (w), is functionally equivalent to a vocative and is represented in the translation by “you.”

⁷ tn Or “faithless.”

⁸ tn Grk “how long.”

⁹ tn Or “put up with.” See Num 11:12; Isa 46:4.

¹⁰ sn The pronouns you…you are plural, indicating that Jesus is speaking to a group rather than an individual.

¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then.”

¹² tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

¹³ tn Grk “coming, the disciples said.” The participle προσελθόντες (proselqontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

¹⁴ tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

¹⁵ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹⁷ tc Many important mss (א* B Θ 0281 33 579 892* pc e ff¹ sy^s,c sa) do not include 17:21 “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” The verse is included in א² C D L W Ë^1,13 Ï lat, but is almost certainly not original. As B. M. Metzger notes, “Since there is no satisfactory reason why the passage, if originally present in Matthew, should have been omitted in a wide variety of witnesses, and since copyists frequently inserted material derived from another Gospel, it appears that most manuscripts have been assimilated to the parallel in Mk 9.29” (TCGNT 35). The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

¹⁸ tn Grk “And answering, he said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the phrasing of the sentence was modified slightly to make it clearer in English.

¹⁹ tn Grk “O.” The marker of direct address, ὦ (w), is functionally equivalent to a vocative and is represented in the translation by “you.”

²⁰ tn Or “faithless.”

²¹ tn Grk “how long.”

²² tn Or “put up with.” See Num 11:12; Isa 46:4.

²³ sn The pronouns you…you are plural, indicating that Jesus is speaking to a group rather than an individual.

²⁴ tn Grk “him.”

²⁵ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

²⁶ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁷ tc Most mss (A C³ Ψ 33 Ï) have τὸ εἰ δύνασαι πιστεῦσαι (to ei dunasai pisteusai, “if you are able to believe”), instead of τὸ εἰ δύνῃ (to ei dunh, “if you are able”; supported by א B C* L N* Δ Ë¹ 579 892 pc). Others have εἰ δύνῃ (or δυνάσαι) πιστεῦσαι (“if you are able to believe”; so D K Θ Ë¹³ 28 565 al), while still others have τοῦτο εἰ δύνῃ (touto ei dunh, “if you can [do] this”; so [Ì⁴⁵] W). The reading that best explains the rise of the others is τὸ εἰ δύνῃ. The neuter article indicates that the Lord is now quoting the boy’s father who, in v. 22, says εἴ τι δύνῃ (ei ti dunh, “if you are able to do anything”). The article is thus used anaphorically (see ExSyn 238). However, scribes could easily have overlooked this idiom and would consequently read τὸ εἰ δύνῃ as the protasis of a conditional clause of the Lord’s statement. As such, it would almost demand the infinitive πιστεῦσαι, producing the reading τὸ εἰ δύνασαι πιστεῦσαι (“if you are able to believe, all things are possible…”). But the article here seems to be meaningless, prompting other scribes to modify the text still further. Some dropped the nonsensical article, while others turned it into the demonstrative τοῦτο and dropped the infinitive. It is clear that scribes had difficulty with the original wording here, and made adjustments in various directions. What might not be so clear is the exact genealogy of the descent of all the readings. However, τὸ εἰ δύνῃ is both a hard saying, best explains the rise of the other readings, and is supported by the best witnesses. It thus rightly deserves to be considered authentic.

²⁸ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

²⁹ sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.

³⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the boy) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

³² tc Most witnesses, even early and excellent ones (Ì^45vid א² A C D L W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat co), have “and fasting” (καὶ νηστείᾳ, kai nhsteia) after “prayer” here. But this seems to be a motivated reading, due to the early church’s emphasis on fasting (TCGNT 85; cf., e.g., 2 Clem. 16:4; Pol. Phil 7:2; Did. 1:3; 7:4). That the most important witnesses (א* B), as well as a few others (0274 2427 k), lack καὶ νηστείᾳ, when a good reason for the omission is difficult to find, argues strongly for the shorter reading.

³³ tn Grk “some Jewish exorcists who traveled about.” The adjectival participle περιερχομένων (periercomenwn) has been translated as “itinerant.”

³⁴ tn Grk “to name the name.”

³⁵ tn Grk “who had.” Here ἔχω (ecw) is used of demon possession, a common usage according to BDAG 421 s.v. ἔχω 7.a.α.

³⁶ sn The expression I sternly warn you means “I charge you as under oath.”

³⁷ tn Grk “a certain Sceva.”

³⁸ sn Within the sequence of the narrative, this amounts to a parenthetical note by the author.

³⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to them.” The expression, redundant in English, has been simplified to “replied.”

⁴⁰ tn Grk “Jesus I know about.” Here ᾿Ιησοῦν (Ihsoun) is in emphatic position in Greek, but placing the object first is not normal in contemporary English style.

⁴¹ tn BDAG 380 s.v. ἐπίσταμαι 2 has “know, be acquainted with τινά…τὸν Παῦλον Ac 19:15.” Here the translation “be acquainted with” was used to differentiate from the previous phrase which has γινώσκω (ginwskw).

⁴² sn But who are you? This account shows how the power of Paul was so distinct that parallel claims to access that power were denied. In fact, such manipulation, by those who did not know Jesus, was judged (v. 16). The indirect way in which the exorcists made the appeal shows their distance from Jesus.

⁴³ tn Grk “in whom the evil spirit was.”

⁴⁴ tn Grk “the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them.” The participle ἐφαλόμενος (efalomeno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. L&N 15.239 has “ἐφαλόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς ‘the man jumped on them’ Ac 19:16.”

⁴⁵ tn Grk “and beating them all into submission.” The participle κατακυριεύσας (katakurieusa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. According to W. Foerster, TDNT 3:1098, the word means “the exercise of dominion against someone, i.e., to one’s own advantage.” These exorcists were shown to be powerless in comparison to Jesus who was working through Paul.

⁴⁶ tn BDAG 484 s.v. ἰσχύω 3 has “win out, prevail…κατά τινος over, against someone Ac 19:16.”

⁴⁷ map For location see JP1-D2; JP2-D2; JP3-D2; JP4-D2.

⁴⁸ tn Grk “fell on.” BDAG 377 s.v. ἐπιπίπτω 2 has “φόβος ἐ. ἐπί τινα fear came upon someone…Ac 19:17.”

⁴⁹ tn Or “exalted.”