Mark 9:26

26 and having cried, and rent him much, it came forth, and he became as dead, so that many said that he was dead,

Mark 9:26 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 9:26

And [the spirit] cried, and rent him sore
We rightly supply, "the spirit", as do the Syriac and Persic versions, "the demon"; for it was he, and not the child, that cried, and made an hideous noise, at his ejection; being filled with wrath and rage, that he must be obliged to quit the possession he had so long held; and therefore, in spite and malice, before it left him, shook and tore him, and threw him into dreadful convulsions:

and came out of him;
though sore against his will, being obliged to it, by the superior power of Christ:

and he was as one dead:
that is, the child, when the devil had left him, lay as still as if he had no breath, nor life in him:

insomuch that many said, he is dead;
really dead: that there was no life in him, nor any hopes of his coming to himself again.

Mark 9:26 In-Context

24 and immediately the father of the child, having cried out, with tears said, `I believe, sir; be helping mine unbelief.'

25 Jesus having seen that a multitude doth run together, rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, `Spirit -- dumb and deaf -- I charge thee, come forth out of him, and no more thou mayest enter into him;'

26 and having cried, and rent him much, it came forth, and he became as dead, so that many said that he was dead,

27 but Jesus, having taken him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose.

28 And he having come into the house, his disciples were questioning him by himself -- `Why were we not able to cast it forth?'