Mark 9:14–29

I Believe, Help My Unbelief

^14aAnd when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.

¹⁵And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were ^aamazed. And as they ran up, they were greeting Him.

¹⁶And He asked them, “What are you arguing with them?”

¹⁷And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute;

¹⁸and ¹whenever it seizes him, it ²slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and ³becomes rigid. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”

¹⁹And He ^*answered them and ^*said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”

²⁰And they brought ¹the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.

²²“And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”

²³And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ ^aAll things are possible to him who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the boy’s father cried out and was saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

²⁵Now when Jesus saw that ^aa crowd was ¹rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, ²I command you, come out of him and do not enter him ³again.”

²⁶And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!”

²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he stood up.

²⁸And when He came ^ainto the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁹And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”