Mark 9:16

16 "What is the subject you are discussing?" He asked them.

Mark 9:16 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 9:16

And he asked the Scribes
The Vulgate Latin renders it, "he asked them"; and the Ethiopic version, he said unto them; meaning either that he asked the disciples when he came to them, or else the people that ran to salute him; but the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read, "the Scribes"; seeing them about his disciples, in close debate with them, and running hard upon them, he asks them,

what question ye with them?
what is it ye seek and require of them? what is your dispute with them? what is your debate about? The Vulgate Latin version reads, "what question ye among you?" among themselves, and one another; and so Beza's most ancient copy.

Mark 9:16 In-Context

14 As they came to rejoin the disciples, they saw an immense crowd surrounding them and a party of Scribes disputing with them.

15 Immediately the whole multitude on beholding Him were astonished and awe-struck, and yet they ran forward and greeted Him.

16 "What is the subject you are discussing?" He asked them.

17 "Rabbi," answered one of the crowd, "I have brought you my son. He has a dumb spirit in him;

18 and wherever it comes upon him, it dashes him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth, and he is pining away. I begged your disciples to expel it, but they had not the power."