Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Mark 9:1-50
Mark 9:7 Oh that this misled and blindfolded world would see that Christ doth not rise and fall, stand or lie by men's apprehensions! What is Christ the lighter, that men do with Him by open proclamation as men do with clipped and light money? They are now crying down Christ... But the Lord hath weighed Him and balanced Him already: This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him! This worth and weight stand still. It is our part to cry: 'Up, up with Christ, and down, down with... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Mark 9:29
(29) But by prayer and fasting.—The better MSS. omit the last two words. It is possible that they may have been added, like the “tears” of Mark 9:24, to strengthen the words actually spoken, by bringing in what had been found to bring with it a new intensity of spiritual volition, and therefore of power to rescue human souls from the frenzy and despair into which they had been plunged by the unclean spirits that possessed them. A like addition of “fasting” to prayer, apparently from a like... read more