Mark 9:16

Simplified Cowboy Version

"What's all the bickerin' about?" Jesus asked while he swung off his horse.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”

King James Version (1611)
And he asked the Scribes, What question ye with them?

King James Version
And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?

English Standard Version
And he asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"

New American Standard Bible
And He asked them, "What are you disputing with them?"

New Century Version
Jesus asked, "What are you arguing about?"

Amplified Bible
He asked them, "What are you discussing with them?"

Legacy Standard Bible
And He asked them, "What are you arguing with them?"

Berean Standard Bible
"What are you disputing with them?" He asked.

Contemporary English Version
Jesus asked, "What are you arguing about?"

Complete Jewish Bible
He asked them, "What's the discussion about?"

Darby Translation
And he asked them, What do ye question with them about?

Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus asked, "What are you arguing about with the teachers of the law?"

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then hee asked the Scribes, What dispute you among your selues?

George Lamsa Translation
And he asked the scribes, What do you debate with them?

Good News Translation
Jesus asked his disciples, "What are you arguing with them about?"

Lexham English Bible
And he asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"

Literal Translation
And He questioned the scribes, What are you arguing with them?

American Standard Version
And he asked them, What question ye with them?

Bible in Basic English
And he said, What are you questioning them about?

Hebrew Names Version
He asked the Sofrim, "What are you asking them?"

International Standard Version
He asked the scribes,them">[fn] "What are you arguing about with them?"

Etheridge Translation
And he inquired of the Sophree, What dispute you with them ?

Murdock Translation
And he asked the Scribes: What were ye disputing with them?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he asked the scribes, what dispute ye with them?

English Revised Version
And he asked them, What question ye with them?

World English Bible
He asked the scribes, "What are you asking them?"

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answering said,

Weymouth's New Testament
"What is the subject you are discussing?" He asked them.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he axide hem, What disputen ye among you?

Update Bible Version
And he asked them, What do you question with them?

Webster's Bible Translation
And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?

New English Translation
He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"

New King James Version
And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?"

New Living Translation
"What is all this arguing about?" Jesus asked.

New Life Bible
Jesus asked the teachers of the Law, "What are you arguing about with them?"

New Revised Standard
He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And he questioned them - What are ye discussing with them?

Douay-Rheims Bible
(9-15) And he asked them: What do you question about among you?

Revised Standard Version
And he asked them, "What are you discussing with them?"

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And he sayde vnto the Scribes: what dispute ye with them?

Young's Literal Translation
And he questioned the scribes, `What dispute ye with them?'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he axed the scrybes: What dispute ye with them?

Mace New Testament (1729)
then he ask'd the Scribes, what were you debating with them?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And He asked them, "What are you discussing with them?"

Contextual Overview

¹⁴When they rounded a small hill and trotted up to where the rest of cowboys were, they heard a bunch of people squabblin'. ¹⁵As soon as they spotted Jesus, they ran to say hello to him. ¹⁶"What's all the bickerin' about?" Jesus asked while he swung off his horse. ¹⁷One of the men from the crowd spoke up quickly. "Jesus, I brought my son to be healed by you. He is possessed by an evil spirit that keeps him from talking and every once in a while, ¹⁸it throws my boy to the ground. It scares the tar out of me because he starts a foamin' at the mouth while gnashing his teeth like a wild hog. He then becomes as rigid as a felled lodgepole pine. I asked your cowboys for help, but they was useless." ¹⁹Jesus told all of them, "Do I have to do everything myself? What're y'all gonna do when I'm gone? Bring the boy over here." ²⁰They brought the boy over and when the devil inside him saw Jesus, it threw the boy on the ground in a violent seizure. The boy was foaming and frothing at the mouth like a rabid coyote. ²¹"How long has this been going on?" Jesus asked. The father replied, ²²"Since he was just knee-high, this devil has been throwing my poor son in the water and even in the branding fire a time or two trying to kill him. I can't let him out of my sight and I'm wore plumb out, sir. Will you help us if you can?" ²³"What do you mean, 'If I can'?" Jesus raised an eyebrow and asked. "Ain't nothin' impossible for a man who believes."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What: Mark 8:11, Luke 5:30-32

with them: or, among yourselves

Cross-References

Hebrews 13:20
I pray that the God of peace, who raised Jesus from the dead, the great cowboy, the originator of the new code,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he asked the Scribes,.... The Vulgate Latin renders it, "he asked them"; and the Ethiopic version, he said unto them; meaning either that he asked the disciples when he came to them, or else the people that ran to salute him; but the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read, "the Scribes"; seeing them about his disciples, in close debate with them, and running hard upon them, he asks them,

what question ye with them? what is it ye seek and require of them? what is your dispute with them? what is your debate about? The Vulgate Latin version reads, "what question ye among you?" among themselves, and one another; and so Beza's most ancient copy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 17:14-21.

Mark 9:14

Questioning with them - Debating with the disciples, and attempting to confound them. This he saw as he came down from the mount. In his absence they had taken occasion to attempt to perplex and confound his followers.

Mark 9:15

Were greatly amazed - Were astonished and surprised at his sudden appearance among them.

Saluted him - Received him with the customary marks of affection and respect. It is probable that this was not by any “formal” manner of salutation, but by the “rush” of the multitude, and by hailing him as the Messiah.

Mark 9:16

What question ye? - What is the subject of your inquiry or debate with the disciples?

Mark 9:17

A dumb spirit - A spirit which deprived his son of the power of speaking.

Mark 9:18

And wheresoever - In whatever place - at home or abroad, alone or in public.

He teareth him - He rends, distracts, or throws him into convulsions.

He foameth - At the mouth, like a mad animal. Among us these would all be considered as marks of violent derangement or madness.

And pineth away - Becomes thin, haggard, and emaciated. This was the effect of the violence of his struggles, and perhaps of the want of food.

Mark 9:22

If thou canst do any thing - I have brought him to the disciples, and they could not help him. If thou canst do anything, have compassion.

Mark 9:23

If thou canst believe - This was an answer to the request, and there was a reference in the answer to the “doubt” in the man’s mind about the power of Jesus. “I” can help him. If thou” canst believe,” it shall be done. Jesus here demanded “faith” or confidence in his power of healing. His design here is to show the man that the difficulty in the case was not in the want of “power” on his part, but in the want of “faith” in the man; in other words, to rebuke him for having “doubted” at all whether he “could” heal him. So he demands faith of every sinner that comes to him, and none that come without “confidence” in him can obtain the blessing.

All things are possible to him that believeth - All things can be effected or accomplished - to wit, by God - in favor of him that believes, and if thou canst believe, this will be done. God will do nothing in our favor without faith. It is right that we should have confidence in him; and if we “have” confidence, it is easy for him to help us, and he willingly does it. In our weakness, then, we should go to God our Saviour; and though we have no strength, yet “he” can aid us, and he will make all things easy for us.

Mark 9:24

Said with tears - The man felt the implied rebuke in the Saviour’s language; and feeling grieved that he should be thought to be destitute of faith, and feeling deeply for the welfare of his afflicted son, he wept. Nothing can be more touching or natural than this. An anxious father, distressed at the condition of his son, having applied to the disciples in vain, now coming to the Saviour; and not having full confidence that he had the proper qualification to be aided, he wept. Any man would have wept in his condition, nor would the Saviour turn the weeping suppliant away.

I believe - I have faith. I do put confidence in thee, though I know that my faith is not as strong as it should be.

Lord - This word here signifies merely “master,” or “sir,” as it does often in the New Testament. We have no evidence that he had any knowledge of the divine nature of the Saviour, and he applied the word, probably, as he would have done to any other teacher or worker of miracles.

Help thou mine unbelief - Supply thou the defects of my faith. Give me strength and grace to put “entire” confidence in thee. Everyone who comes to the Saviour for help has need of offering this prayer. In our unbelief and our doubts we need his aid, nor shall we ever put sufficient reliance on him without his gracious help.