Mark 9:18

Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The father of a boy tormented by a mute spirit reports the seizures and his failed appeal to Jesus' disciples directly to Jesus. He delivers this account at the moment Jesus asks the crowd what brought them forward.

The words — The Greek καταλὰβῃ (katalabē) literally means "it may seize" or "it may grasp," describing the spirit's sudden attack. The verb ῥήσσει (rhēssei) translates to "it throws down," detailing the physical result of each seizure.

The thread — Matthew 17:19 and Mark 9:28 record the disciples asking Jesus privately why they failed to drive the spirit out. Mark 11:23 contrasts this failure by stating that speaking to a mountain without doubt will result in it being lifted up and thrown into the sea.

Why it lands — The text records the disciples' inability and the father's testimony to establish that deliverance comes through Jesus alone. It requires the reader to abandon reliance on human effort and submit to Christ's direct authority.

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 wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.

Cross-references

Mark 11:23 “Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him.
Matthew 17:19 Afterward the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
Mark 9:28 After Jesus had gone into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
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.
Matthew 17:16 I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
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 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.”
2 Kings 4:29 So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
Psalms 112:10 The wicked man will see and be grieved; he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the desires of the wicked will perish.
Acts 7:54 On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him.