Matthew 17:14-21

The Disciples’ Failure to Heal

17:14 When ¹  they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, 17:15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures ²  and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and into the water. 17:16 I brought him to your disciples, but ³  they were not able to heal him.” 17:17 Jesus answered, ⁴  “You ⁵  unbelieving ⁶  and perverse generation! How much longer ⁷  must I be with you? How much longer must I endure ⁸  you? ⁹  Bring him here to me.” 17:18 Then ¹⁰  Jesus rebuked ¹¹  the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment. 17:19 Then the disciples came ¹²  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, ¹³  if you have faith the size of ¹⁴  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ¹⁵  will be impossible for you.”

17:21 [[EMPTY]] ¹⁶ 

Mark 9:14-29

The Disciples’ Failure to Heal

9:14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and experts in the law ¹⁷  arguing with them. 9:15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran ¹⁸  at once and greeted him. 9:16 He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 9:17 A member of the crowd said to him, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute. 9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, but ¹⁹  they were not able to do so.” ²⁰  9:19 He answered them, ²¹  “You ²²  unbelieving ²³  generation! How much longer ²⁴  must I be with you? How much longer must I endure ²⁵  you? ²⁶  Bring him to me.” 9:20 So they brought the boy ²⁷  to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He ²⁸  fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 9:21 Jesus ²⁹  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?’ ³⁰  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 ³¹  the unclean spirit, ³²  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 ³³  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, ³⁴  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.” ³⁵ 

[17:14]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[17:15]  ² tn Grk “he is moonstruck,” possibly meaning “lunatic” (so NAB, NASB), although now the term is generally regarded as referring to some sort of seizure disorder such as epilepsy (L&N 23.169; BDAG 919 s.v. σεληνιάζομαι).

[17:16]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[17:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[17:17]  ⁵ tn Grk “O.” The marker of direct address, ὦ (w), is functionally equivalent to a vocative and is represented in the translation by “you.”

[17:17]  ⁶ tn Or “faithless.”

[17:17]  ⁷ tn Grk “how long.”

[17:17]  ⁸ tn Or “put up with.” See Num 11:12; Isa 46:4.

[17:17]  ⁹ sn The pronouns you…you are plural, indicating that Jesus is speaking to a group rather than an individual.

[17:18]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then.”

[17:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[17:19]  ¹² 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.

[17:20]  ¹³ tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[17:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:20]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[17:21]  ¹⁶ 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.

[9:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[9:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk The participle προστρέχοντες (prostrecontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

[9:18]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[9:18]  ²⁰ tn The words “to do so” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity and stylistic reasons.

[9:19]  ²¹ 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.

[9:19]  ²² tn Grk “O.” The marker of direct address, ὦ (w), is functionally equivalent to a vocative and is represented in the translation by “you.”

[9:19]  ²³ tn Or “faithless.”

[9:19]  ²⁴ tn Grk “how long.”

[9:19]  ²⁵ tn Or “put up with.” See Num 11:12; Isa 46:4.

[9:19]  ²⁶ sn The pronouns you…you are plural, indicating that Jesus is speaking to a group rather than an individual.

[9:20]  ²⁷ tn Grk “him.”

[9:20]  ²⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[9:21]  ²⁹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:23]  ³⁰ 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.

[9:25]  ³¹ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[9:25]  ³² sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.

[9:26]  ³³ 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.

[9:28]  ³⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:29]  ³⁵ 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.