18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
19 He answered him and said, “O afaithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I2bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
20 Then they brought him to Him. And awhen he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, a“If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; ahelp my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He arebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”
26 Then thespirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
28aAnd when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but aprayer and fasting.”
Jesus Again Predicts His Death and Resurrection
30 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.
31aFor He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will bkill Him. And after He is killed, He will crise the third day.”
32aBut they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.
Who Is the Greatest?
33aThen He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you1disputed among yourselves on the road?”
34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had adisputed among themselves who wouldbethebgreatest.
35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, a“If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
36 Then aHe took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them,
37“Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and awhoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”
Jesus Forbids Sectarianism
38aNow John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”
39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, afor no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.
41aFor whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
Jesus Warns of Offenses
42a“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me1to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.
43aIf your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life1maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to2hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—
When he saw him - When the child saw Christ; when his deliverance was at hand. Immediately the spirit tore him - Made his last grand effort to destroy him. Is it not generally so, before Satan is cast out of a soul, of which he has long had possession?
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