⭐WEB · Matthew 17:21
What does Matthew 17:21 mean?
"But this kind doesn’t go out except by prayer and fasting.”"
— Matthew 17:21 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Jesus rebuked him, the demon went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour.
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, “Why weren’t we able to cast it out?”
He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
But this kind doesn’t go out except by prayer and fasting.”
While they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men,
and they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised up.” They were exceedingly sorry.
When they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the didrachma coins came to Peter, and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the didrachma?”
Explanation
Matthew 17:21 in the WEB translation states, "But this kind doesn't go out except by prayer and fasting." Before explaining its meaning, it's important to address a significant textual issue: this verse is missing from the earliest and most reliable Greek manuscripts of Matthew's Gospel. Most modern scholarly translations (such as the ESV, NIV, and NRSV) omit this verse entirely or place it in a footnote, because it appears to have been copied into Matthew's text from the parallel passage in Mark 9:29 by later scribes. The WEB, following the Textus Receptus tradition, retains it, but readers should know that its authenticity as an original part of Matthew is widely disputed among textual scholars.
Setting aside the textual question, the content of the verse fits into the context of Matthew 17:14-20, where Jesus's disciples had been unable to cast a demon out of a boy who suffered from severe seizures. After Jesus healed the boy himself, the disciples privately asked him why they had failed. In Matthew's text as it stands with this verse, Jesus's answer builds on his statement about faith (verse 20) by adding that this particular kind of spiritual affliction required not just faith but also prayer and fasting.
Theologically, the verse (wherever it appears, whether in Matthew or its clearer parallel in Mark 9:29) teaches that certain spiritual battles demand more than casual or presumptuous effort. It suggests that some forms of spiritual opposition require sustained dependence on God through disciplined
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