Mark 9:16

Mar 9:16. Αὐτοὺς, them) This is not reciprocal in the present instance, but is to be referred to the disciples, Mar 9:14.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 9:16 . ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτούς , He asked them, i.e. , the people who in numbers ran to meet Him. Jesus had noticed, as He drew near, that there was a dispute going on in which the disciples were concerned, and not knowing the composition of the crowd, He proceeds on the assumption that they had all a share in it = the crowd as a whole versus the nine.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he asked the Scribes,.... The Vulgate Latin renders it, "he asked them"; and the Ethiopic version, he said unto them; meaning either that he asked the disciples when he came to them, or else the people that ran to salute him; but the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read, "the Scribes"; seeing them about his disciples, in close debate with them, and running hard upon them, he asks them,

what question ye with them? what is it ye seek and require of them? what is your dispute with them? what is your debate about? The Vulgate Latin version reads, "what question ye among you?" among themselves, and one another; and so Beza's most ancient copy.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And he asked them; that is, the multitude. The context shows this. The reading here is autouv , not tou .

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The boy with the dumb spirit:

v. 16. And He asked the scribes, What question ye with them?

v. 17. And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto Thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

v. 18. 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.

v. 19. 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.

v. 20. And they brought him unto Him; and when he saw Him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.

As soon as Jesus came within speaking distance, He inquired about the cause of the disturbance. He asked not only the scribes, but all of them, What is all this disputing about? The scribes had begun the quarrel, and the people had probably taken sides, some with the scribes, some with the apostles. At the approach of Jesus the excitement subsided, both parties being evidently somewhat abashed by His presence. But one man out of the multitude, whose interest was a very natural and deep one, separated himself from the rest and stood forth, answering. He had brought his son, seeking the Lord in the place where the disciples were; but, Jesus being absent, he had appealed to the disciples to heal the boy, and they had not been able to do so. It was a pitiful tale which the man told. His son was lunatic, Mat 17:15, and possessed with a spirit, a demon that prevented his speaking. The boy’s organ of speech and all his members were normal, but the spirit held them in bonds. And not only that: the demon at times took hold of him and threw him into paroxysms, or cramps, in which the boy foamed at the mouth and ground his teeth, until his body could no longer stand the strain, when he swooned away in a stupor, much like the withering of a branch under a sudden scorching blast. This recital of troubles and the fruitless effort to become rid of them affected the Lord very deeply and caused Him to voice a bitter complaint. Note: His cry about the unbelief of the generation among which He was laboring, His wish to be freed from their presence, was directed to the whole nation of the Jews. They all, with very few exceptions, had heard the Word of the Gospel with ears that heard not. The number of disciples of Jesus was very small after all His efforts, and the number of believers still smaller. Even the apostles, in spite of their confession concerning Jesus the Christ, were still affected with the unbelief of the great mass of the Jews. Upon Christ’s command they now brought the boy to Him. No sooner, however, had the boy caught sight of the Lord than the spirit gave a demonstration of his hatred against Jesus and of his spite against the handiwork of God. He tore and twisted the sick boy in a ghastly manner, inflicting torments of every kind upon his body, as in extreme St. Vitus’s dance, so that he finally fell to the ground in convulsions, where he rolled about foaming. It was an awful exhibition of the power of Satan over the body of the boy, well calculated to teach his great strength and his lasting hatred against all the works of God.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. αὐτούς ([1910][1911][1912][1913][1914][1915]) rather than τοὺς γραμματεῖς ([1916][1917][1918][1919]).

[1910] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[1911] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[1912] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[1913] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[1914] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

[1915] Codex Athous Laurae. 8th cent. Like N and Σ, it is written in silver letters on purple vellum. Contains Mar 9:5 to Mar 16:20, and, as in L, the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9. As in Δ, the text of Mark is specially good.

[1916] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[1917] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[1918] Codex Oxoniensis. 9th cent. Contains Mark, except Mar 3:35 to Mar 6:20.

[1919] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mar 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

16. ἐπηρώτησεν. Only here, Mar 9:21, and Mar 12:28 does Mk use the aor. of this verb; elsewhere the imperf. (Mar 5:9, Mar 7:5; Mar 7:17, etc.). Mt. of course omits the question as implying that Christ was ignorant. Cf. Mar 5:9; Mar 5:30, Mar 6:38, Mar 8:12; Mar 8:23, etc. The question is addressed to the crowd (see crit. note), who had joined in attacking the nine for their failure to heal. Their sympathy would be with the father of the boy. These Apostles had healed people during their mission (Mar 6:13); why would they not heal the only son (Lk.) of this poor man?

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16.] αὐτούς (1st), them, i.e. ‘the multitude,’ regarding the Scribes as a part of the ὄχλος. One of the multitude answers.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτούς—he asked them. The pronoun evidently refers to the multitude just mentioned.

αὐτούς, instead of τοὺς γραμματεῖς, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BDL Δ 1, 28, 209, mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph.

Τί συνζητεῖτε πρὸς αὐτούς;—What are you disputing with them? αὐτούς here refers to the disciples.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.