Mark 9:26

9:26-27 The demon’s violent reaction revealed its strength and showed Jesus’ greatness (cp. 1:25-26; 5:15).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 9:26. Κράξαν, having cried) although it would have preferred, in the present case, to have been altogether dumb.—σπαράξαν, having rent) In the vouchsafing of the Divine aid, the body of man is not always handled softly. A violent going out was the sign of a more permanent deliverance.

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

Mar 9:26 describes a final fit, apparently worse than the preceding. It was evidently an aggravated type of epilepsy, fit following on fit and producing utter exhaustion. Mark’s elaborate description seems to embody the recollections of one on whom the case had made a great impression.

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

The nearer that the virtue of Christ is, the more outrageously doth Satan rage.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(26) Rent him sore.—The verb is the same as the “tare him” of Mar_9:20, and implies a spasm, as of horror, convulsing the whole frame. The corpse-like falling as one dead, and the cry of many (better, “the many”—i.e., “the greater part, most of them”) that he was dead, and our Lord’s taking the boy by the hand, and the question of the disciples, are all peculiar to St, Mark.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. and rent him sore] Observe here the minuteness and exactness of the Evangelist in all the details of the incident. Who was more likely to treasure up every detail of the scene than that Apostle, who had been with His Master on the Mount of Glorification?

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the spirit cried, and rent him sore,.... We rightly supply, "the spirit", as do the Syriac and Persic versions, "the demon"; for it was he, and not the child, that cried, and made an hideous noise, at his ejection; being filled with wrath and rage, that he must be obliged to quit the possession he had so long held; and therefore, in spite and malice, before it left him, shook and tore him, and threw him into dreadful convulsions:

and came out of him; though sore against his will, being obliged to it, by the superior power of Christ:

and he was as one dead: that is, the child, when the devil had left him, lay as still as if he had no breath, nor life in him:

insomuch that many said, he is dead; really dead: that there was no life in him, nor any hopes of his coming to himself again.

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

26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

Ver. 26. And rent him sore] The nearer any is to help and comfort, the more Satan roareth and rageth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This person, whom the apostles had forbidden to work miracles in the name of Christ, believed indeed in Christ, but did not follow him, on account of the great poverty of the apostles: he was not perfect, nor had he left all things to follow Christ. The apostles therefore concluded, that such a one was not worthy to work miracles in the name of their divine Master. But for this indiscretion, Christ rebukes them, saying , do not, &c. (Tirinus)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

26. Rent him — Wrenched him around the space, as if struggling in the act of throwing the child off from his position. As one dead — Not only prostrated by the convulsions, but left in complete exhaustion and apparent lifelessness.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Having rent him sore - So does even the body sometimes suffer, when God comes to deliver the soul from Satan.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

26. The spirit cried and rent him sore. The evil spirit obeys most reluctantly and seeks to destroy one whom it can no longer use. The paroxysm of departure was fearful, and left the boy exhausted and as dead. The touch of Jesus completed the cure.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

It cried out

"The unclean spirit cried out"

convulsed the boy greatly

"shook the boy violently"

came out

It is implied that the spirit came out of the boy. AT: "came out of the boy" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

The boy looked like one who was dead

The boy's appearance is compared to that of a dead person. AT: "The boy appeared dead" or "The boy looked like a dead person" (See: Simile)

so that many

"so that many people"

took him by the hand

This means that Jesus grasped the boy's hand with his own hand. AT: "grasped the boy by the hand" (See: Idiom)

lifted him up

"helped him get up"

translationWords

cry

like

die

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

26. πολλὰ σπαράξας. The masc. here is in favour of ἰδών in Mar 9:20 referring to the demon rather than the boy. As if desiring to do as much mischief as possible before leaving. Vulg. has discerpens here and Mar 1:26, but conturbavit in Mar 9:20, thus making the simple verb stronger than the compound; πολλὰ is multum, as in Mar 5:10; Mar 5:23; Mar 5:38; it might have been vehementer, as in Mar 5:43.

τοὺς πολλούς. The more part (R.V.), “most of them”; cf. Mar 6:2, Mar 12:37. But Mk seems to make little difference between οἱ πολλοί and πολλοί.

Ἀπέθανεν. As in Mar 5:35, the aor. is used of a death which has just taken place.

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.

26. καὶ κράξας καὶ πολλὰ σπαράξας, ἐξῆλθε—And having cried out and convulsed (him) violently, he came out.

κράξας καὶ. σπαράξας, instead of the neuter, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BC* DL (Δ). Omit αὐτόν, him, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. אcorr. BC* DL Δ mss. Lat. Vet.

κράξας κ. σπαράξας—The masc. gender shows that the writer thought of the spirit as a person.

ἐγένετο ὡσεὶ νεκρός—he became as if dead. It is impossible to account for this final convulsion. If Jesus, e.g., were restoring a drowned person, would the horrible feelings attending a natural restoration be avoided? And whether any such violent wrench of mind and body would attend a sudden cure of insanity, we do not know.

ὥστε τοὺς πολλοὺς λέγειν2—so that the most said.

Insert τοὺς before πολλοὺς Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א ABL Δ 33.

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