Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Mark 9:29 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 29. 29And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse locates the disciples' failure in dependence on prayer while preserving the later-manuscript addition 'and fasting' as a textual issue.
A father's mixed cry meets a power the disciples could not hold
This verse is one part of that explanation in Mark 9:14-29. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Mark 9:14-29
Read Mark 9:29 with 9:14-29. This verse locates the disciples' failure in dependence on prayer while preserving the later-manuscript addition 'and fasting' as a textual issue. The complete unit's controlling movement is: A desperate father describes his son's destructive episodes and asks help for mixed faith; Jesus rebukes the spirit, raises the boy, and privately teaches the disciples about prayer.
Follow the Context
- A desperate father describes his son's destructive episodes and asks help for mixed faith
- Jesus rebukes the spirit, raises the boy
- privately teaches the disciples about prayer.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting”
In plain language: locates the disciples' failure in dependence on prayer while preserving the later-manuscript addition 'and fasting' as a textual issue
A desperate father describes his son's destructive episodes and asks help for mixed faith; Jesus rebukes the spirit, raises the boy, and privately teaches the disciples about prayer. Within that movement, this wording locates the disciples' failure in dependence on prayer while preserving the later-manuscript addition 'and fasting' as a textual issue.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material narrative, lexical, textual, historical, theological, ethical, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Prayer and fasting do not replace emergency or medical care. Read Mark 9:29 with Mark 9:14-29. In context, the verse locates the disciples' failure in dependence on prayer while preserving the later-manuscript addition 'and fasting' as a textual issue.
What Remains True
Jesus receives a father's honest mixture of trust and doubt, restores his endangered child, and teaches dependent prayer after disciples fail. At Mark 9:29, locates the disciples' failure in dependence on prayer while preserving the later-manuscript addition 'and fasting' as a textual issue.
Teach It Back
Explain Mark 9:29's specific contribution to Mark 9:14-29: locates the disciples' failure in dependence on prayer while preserving the later-manuscript addition 'and fasting' as a textual issue. Include the surrounding movement, one uncertainty or ethical boundary, and what the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Mark 9:14-29 — Jesus Releases a Boy after Disciples FailSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The preferred reading follows Mark's immediate narrative and whole-book movement while keeping the material alternative visible: Ancient spirit language and symptoms resembling seizures must not become a diagnosis of epilepsy as demonic. Manuscripts differ on 'and fasting' in 9:29. The father's honest mixed faith is not blamed for the crisis.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Exact location: Mark 9:14-29, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, sentence relations, and material variants checked independently of the KJV.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Mark.txt, 9:14-29
Open the Mark Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Mark with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, older-English clarification, variants, background, and alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Mark PDF, printed pp. 1868–1901, 9:14-29 and attached translator/textual notes
Open the official NET Mark PDF ↗