Mark 9:15-26

¹⁵They looked up and saw Jesus and they were surprised, and they all ran to him and said hello to him.

¹⁶Jesus asked them, “What are you mob all arguing about?”

¹⁷One of the men there said to Jesus, “Teacher, my son has a bad spirit inside him and it stops him from talking.

¹⁸It pushes the boy down on to the ground, his body goes stiff and he rubs his teeth together and spit comes out of his mouth. I asked your followers, ‘Please force that bad spirit out of him.’ But they can’t do it.”

¹⁹Jesus said, “How come you mob that are alive today can’t believe? Do I have to always stay here and do everything for you? Bring the boy here to me.”

²⁰The people brought the boy to Jesus. As soon as that bad spirit saw Jesus it shook the boy and pushed him down so that he wriggled around on the ground, and a lot of spit came out of his mouth.

²¹Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has your boy been like this?” The man said, “For a long time, from when he was little kid.

²²Lots of times the bad spirit pushes him into fires and into water. That bad spirit is trying to kill him. Please feel sorry for us and help him if you can.”

²³Jesus said, “You said to me, ‘If you can.’ Don’t you know that God is strong enough to do anything if you trust him to do it?”

²⁴That boy’s father yelled out, “I believe God can do it. But please help me believe more.”

²⁵Jesus looked around and saw a big mob of people coming to watch, so he growled at the bad spirit. He said, “Hey. You bad spirit that stops people from talking and hearing, I’m telling you now, come out of this little boy, and stay out of him. You can never go back into him.”

²⁶Then the bad spirit screamed and forced the boy to take another bad fit and fall down on the ground, then it went out of the boy. The boy looked like he was dead, and a lot of people said, “Poor boy, he is finished.”