“O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He answered him, “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.”
- KJV 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.
- ESV And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
- NKJV He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
- NASB And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”
- NLT Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus laments the unbelieving generation and calls for the boy to be brought to him. He grieves their faithlessness yet acts to help.
Overview
Jesus' sorrowful question echoes God's frustration with faithless Israel in the wilderness. The rebuke addresses the disciples, the crowd, and the scribes alike, exposing a pervasive lack of faith. Yet his command to 'bring him to me' shows that the remedy is found in coming to Jesus himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Num 14:11And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
- Ps 106:21–25They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,
- Matt 17:17“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.”
- Num 14:27“How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.
- Mark 16:14Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
- Luke 9:41“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
- Luke 24:25Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
- John 20:27Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
- Heb 3:10–12Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’
- Ps 78:6–8that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children
- Num 32:13–14The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation who had done evil in His sight was gone.
- Ps 78:22because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.
- Deut 32:20He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation—children of unfaithfulness.
- Num 14:22not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
- John 12:27Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it is for this purpose that I have come to this hour.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 9:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.