Mark 9:19

“O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus speaks to the disciples and the boy’s father after they report their inability to cast out the spirit. He addresses them immediately upon hearing the father’s description of the boy’s symptoms and the disciples’ failure.

The words — The Greek terms ἄπιστος (apistos) and γενεὰ (genea) literally mean “unbelieving” and “generation.” Jesus combines them to label the immediate audience as defined by a persistent lack of faith.

The thread — The text’s structure of divine questioning matches Numbers 14:11 and Numbers 14:27, where God asks how long His people will treat Him with contempt and refuse to believe. The pattern of forgetting divine provision in crisis aligns with Psalms 106:21.

Why it lands — The verse commands the onlookers to bring the boy to Jesus without further delay or debate. It requires the reader to confront whether their own responses to crisis prioritize immediate obedience or prolonged reliance on ineffective methods.

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

He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

Cross-references

Numbers 14:11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
Numbers 14:27 “How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.
Psalms 106:21 They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,
Matthew 17:17 “O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.”
Mark 16:14 Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Luke 9:41 “O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
Luke 24:25 Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
John 20:27 Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Hebrews 3:10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’
Numbers 14:22 not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—