9:24a

Immediately: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Immediately indicates that the father said this right after Jesus finished talking in 9:23b. It probably is also used to emphasize the words that follow.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Right away (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
at once (Good News Bible)
-or-
instantly (New Living Translation)

the boy’s father cried out:

There is a textual issue here. (1) Some Greek manuscripts have “cried out and said, I believe.” For example, the NET Bible says: “the father of the boy cried out and said, ‘I believe’” (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version). (2) Some Greek manuscripts have “cried out and said
in tears, Lord, I believe.” The King James Version follows these manuscripts. For example: “the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe” (King James Version). It is recommended that you follow option (1) and the majority of English versions. Do not include these words.) The Greek word the Berean Standard Bible translates as cried out means “shouted loudly.” Another way to translate this is:

shouted (Contemporary English Version)

I do believe: Translate the word believe in the same way that you translated it in 9:23b. The man was saying that he trusted Jesus to help/heal his son. Your language may have a verb, expression, or idiom with that meaning.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

I have faith/confidence in you
-or-
I trust that you are able to help/heal my son

9:24b

help my unbelief: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as help my unbelief means that man claimed that he believed (9:24a), but he had doubts. So he wanted to believe more fully.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

help me not to doubt! (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
Help me to believe more! (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

my unbelief: The word unbelief means “lack of faith.” The man did not completely believe that Jesus could help the boy. He had some doubts.

General Comment on 9:24a–b

The man said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” He claimed to believe, but he also knew that he doubted Jesus. The Good News Bible shows another way to translate this:

I do have faith, but not enough. Help me have more!

Paragraph 9:25–27

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.