Bible Strands
Luke 9:39
A spirit keeps seizing him, and he screams abruptly. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It keeps mauling him and rarely departs from him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The father addresses Jesus in a crowd, describing his son’s condition after the disciples failed to intervene.
The words — ἐξαίφνης (exaiphnēs) means suddenly, and λαμβάνει (lambanei) means takes or seizes, describing the spirit’s abrupt and repeated grip on the boy.
The thread — Mark 9:20 records the spirit immediately throwing the boy into convulsions upon seeing Jesus, while Mark 9:26 notes the violent shrieking and the boy’s corpse-like state. Mark 5:4 illustrates a parallel pattern of relentless bondage that human restraints cannot contain.
Why it lands — The text reports a spirit that repeatedly seizes, screams, and convulses a victim while rarely departing. It asks the reader to acknowledge the limits of human effort and the necessity of direct divine authority to break persistent oppression.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.
Cross-references
- Mark 9:20 So they brought him, and seeing Jesus, the spirit immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
- Mark 5:4 Though he was often bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles. Now there was no one with the strength to subdue him.
- Mark 9:26 After shrieking and convulsing him violently, the spirit came out. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He is dead.”
- Luke 4:35 But Jesus rebuked the demon. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!” At this, the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without harming him.
- Luke 8:29 For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places.
- John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
- 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- Revelation 9:11 They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.