Mark 9:17-50 ▼

17 A man in the crowd answered him, |Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that won't let him talk.

18 Whenever it brings on a seizure, it throws him to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes stiff. So I asked your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they didn't have the power.|

19 Jesus told them, |You unbelieving generation! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me!|

20 So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell on the ground and kept rolling around and foaming at the mouth.

21 Then Jesus asked his father, |How long has this been happening to him?| He said, |Since he was a child.

22 The spirit has often thrown him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us!|

23 Jesus told him, |'If you are able?' Everything is possible for the person who believes!|

24 With tears flowing, the child's father at once cried out, |I do believe! Help my unbelief!|

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, |You spirit that won't let him talk or hear—I command you to come out of him and never enter him again!|

26 The spirit screamed, shook the child violently, and came out. The boy was like a corpse, and many said that he was dead.

27 But Jesus took his hand and helped him up, and he stood up.

28 When Jesus came home, his disciples asked him privately, |Why couldn't we drive the spirit out?|

29 He told them, |This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.|

30 Then they left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus didn't want anyone to find out about it,

31 because he was teaching his disciples, |The Son of Man will be betrayed into human hands. They will kill him, but after being dead for three days he will be raised.|

32 They didn't understand what this statement meant, and they were afraid to ask him.

33 Then they came to Capernaum. While Jesus was at home, he asked the disciples, |What were you arguing about on the road?|

34 But they kept silent, because they had argued on the road with one another about who was the greatest.

35 So he sat down, called the Twelve, and told them, |If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.|

36 Then he took a little child and had him stand among them. He took him in his arms and told them,

37 |Whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.|

38 John told Jesus, |Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn't a follower like us.|

39 But Jesus said, |Don't stop him, because no one who works a miracle in my name can slander me soon afterwards.

40 Whoever is not against us is for us.

41 I tell all of you with certainty, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to the Messiah will never lose his reward.|

42 |If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a large millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

43 So if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life injured than to have two hands and go to hell, to the fire that cannot be put out.

44 In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.

45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

46 In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.

47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.

48 In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.

49 Because everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt.

50 Salt is good. But if salt loses its taste, how can you restore its flavor? Keep on having salt among yourselves, and live in peace with one another.|