Luke 9:39

Luke 9:39, in plain English

The father described how a spirit keeps seizing his son, making him scream, convulse, and foam at the mouth. It mauls him and hardly ever leaves him alone.

Why it's here

This father watched his only child suffer day after day with no relief. The relentlessness of the attacks made the family's suffering unbearable. He needed someone who could do what no one else could.

Who's speaking

The father details his son's terrible suffering.

Where it sits in the story

The boy's condition was relentless and brutal: sudden seizures, screaming, foaming, physical injury. The spirit rarely left him in peace. His father had watched helplessly for far too long.

The scholarly reading

The father describes his son's affliction: a pneuma ('spirit') lambanei ('seizes') him, causing sudden krazei ('screaming'), sparassei ('convulsions') with aphros ('foaming at the mouth'), and syntrībon ('mauling/bruising') him. The spirit mogis ('with difficulty/rarely') apochōrei ('departs'), indicating persistent, severe demonic oppression.

Language and setting

The symptoms described parallel what modern medicine might identify as epilepsy, but the text attributes the cause to a demonic spirit. The rare departure emphasizes the relentless nature of the affliction, distinguishing it from intermittent seizures.

Voice

The father describes his son's condition to Jesus.

Significance

The father described his son's horrifying condition: a spirit would suddenly seize the boy, causing screaming, violent convulsions, foaming at the mouth, and physical injury, rarely releasing its grip.

37The next day, when they came down from the mountain, Jesus was met by a large crowd.

38Suddenly a man in the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only child.

39A spirit keeps seizing him, and he screams abruptly. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It keeps mauling him and rarely departs from him.

40I begged Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”

41“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

Read all of Luke 9 — Peter confesses, the Transfiguration blazes, and Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem. Everything from here moves toward the cross.