14 When they came toward the crowd,+ a man approached him, knelt down to him, and said: 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he is an epileptic and is ill. He falls often into the fire and often into the water.+ 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

17 And one of the crowd answered him: “Teacher, I brought my son to you because he has a speechless spirit.+ 18 Wherever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and loses his strength. I asked your disciples to expel it, but they were not able to do so.”