So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
Parallel translations
- WEB So I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.”
- KJV And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
- BSB I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
- NKJV So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
- NASB And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.”
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
The father explains that Jesus' disciples could not heal the boy. Their failure exposes the limits of unbelief and sets up Jesus' teaching on faith.
Overview
Though the disciples had earlier been given authority over demons (Matthew 10:1), here they cannot drive this one out. Their inability is not a flaw in Christ's power but a lesson about dependence on God. It prepares for Jesus' diagnosis that their little faith, not the difficulty of the case, was the problem.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Matt 17:19–20Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, “Why weren’t we able to cast it out?”
- Luke 9:40I begged your disciples to cast it out, and they couldn’t.”
- Acts 19:15–16The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”
- Acts 3:16By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
- 2 Kgs 4:29–31Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s face.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 17:16 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.