Text:

After proseuchē ‘prayer’ Textus Receptus, Soden, Vogels, and Merk (in brackets) include kai nēsteia ‘and fasting,’ which is omitted by the majority of modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

genos (cf. 7.26) here ‘class,’ ‘kind’: ‘this kind’ probably refers to demons or unclean spirits considered as a whole, rather than to the particular kind of unclean spirit which possessed this boy.

exelthein (cf. 7.29) ‘go out,’ i.e. ‘be driven out,’ ‘be cast out.’

proseuchē (11.17) ‘in prayer,’ ‘by means of prayer’: this means prayer to God.

Translation:

This kind is an elliptical expression which may require some expansion in certain languages, either by the addition of the referent, e.g. ‘this kind of spirit’ (or ‘demon’), or by the shifting of the relationship of referent to qualifier, e.g. ‘demons like this one.’ In some languages there is no word indicating ‘type,’ ‘kind’ or ‘class’ which can be applied to such spirits, and hence one can use ‘this spirit’ or ‘a spirit like this one’ (Kekchi).

The passive construction must often be shifted to active, e.g. ‘you cannot cast out demons like this one except….’

For driven out see problems discussed under cast out, 1.34. In this instance it is usually possible to employ a causative, ‘to cause to come out,’ ‘to cause to go out’ or ‘to cause to leave.’

By anything but prayer must be altered if prayer is translatable only by a verb expression. In such instances the change is generally from an instrumental to a conditional expression ‘you cannot … if you do not pray.’ Though it would seem most natural for Jesus to reply using the second person plural, e.g. ‘you cannot … unless you…,’ in some languages truths which are generally applicable can only be expressed with the first person plural, ‘we cannot…, unless we…’ (Copainalá Zoque); cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘except then only when we pray.’

Fasting, which occurs in the Textus Receptus, and certain other derived translations, must not be rendered by a word meaning merely ‘to be hungry’ (see 2.18). In many languages one must indicate the purposeful abstinence from food, e.g. ‘to hold back from eating’ (South Bolivian Quechua).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .