Matius 17:14-20

The Disciples’ Failure to Heal

17:14 When ¹  they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, 17:15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures ²  and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and into the water. 17:16 I brought him to your disciples, but ³  they were not able to heal him.” 17:17 Jesus answered, ⁴  “You ⁵  unbelieving ⁶  and perverse generation! How much longer ⁷  must I be with you? How much longer must I endure ⁸  you? ⁹  Bring him here to me.” 17:18 Then ¹⁰  Jesus rebuked ¹¹  the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment. 17:19 Then the disciples came ¹²  to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 17:20 He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, ¹³  if you have faith the size of ¹⁴  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ¹⁵  will be impossible for you.”

[17:14]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[17:15]  ² tn Grk “he is moonstruck,” possibly meaning “lunatic” (so NAB, NASB), although now the term is generally regarded as referring to some sort of seizure disorder such as epilepsy (L&N 23.169; BDAG 919 s.v. σεληνιάζομαι).

[17:16]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[17:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[17:17]  ⁵ tn Grk “O.” The marker of direct address, ὦ (w), is functionally equivalent to a vocative and is represented in the translation by “you.”

[17:17]  ⁶ tn Or “faithless.”

[17:17]  sn The rebuke for lack of faith has OT roots: Num 14:27; Deut 32:5, 30; Isa 59:8.

[17:17]  ⁷ tn Grk “how long.”

[17:17]  ⁸ tn Or “put up with.” See Num 11:12; Isa 46:4.

[17:17]  ⁹ sn The pronouns you…you are plural, indicating that Jesus is speaking to a group rather than an individual.

[17:18]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then.”

[17:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[17:19]  ¹² tn Grk “coming, the disciples said.” The participle προσελθόντες (proselqontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

[17:20]  ¹³ tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[17:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:20]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.