He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

And he answereth them and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him unto me.

Who answering them, said: O incredulous generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

But he answering them says, O unbelieving generation! how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him to me.

He answered him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you? bring him to me.

And he answering him, said, 'O generation unbelieving, till when shall I be with you? till when shall I suffer you? bring him unto me;'

He answers him, and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him to me.

"O unbelieving generation!" replied Jesus; "how long must I be with you? how long must I have patience with you? Bring the boy to me."

And he said to them in answer, O generation without faith, how long will I have to be with you? how long will I put up with you? let him come to me.

And answering, he said to them, 'You unbelieving generation, how long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.'

And answering them, he said: "O unbelieving generation, how long must I be with you? How long shall I endure you? Bring him to me."

"Faithless generation!" exclaimed Jesus. "How long must I be with you? How long must I have patience with you? Bring the boy to me."

He answereth him,.... The father of the child, and who is included in the reproof afterwards given, for his unbelief, and taking part with the Scribes against his disciples; though the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, read, "them"; meaning not his disciples, but the Scribes and Pharisees, with the father of the child: and saith,
O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me; See Gill on Matthew 17:17.

He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation--"and perverse," or "perverted" (Matthew 17:17; Luke 9:41).
how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?--language implying that it was a shame to them to want the faith necessary to perform this cure, and that it needed some patience to put up with them. It is to us surprising that some interpreters, as CHRYSOSTOM and CALVIN, should represent this rebuke as addressed, not to the disciples at all, but to the scribes who disputed with them. Nor does it much, if at all, mend the matter to view it as addressed to both, as most expositors seem to do. With BENGEL, DE WETTE, and MEYER, we regard it as addressed directly to the nine apostles who were unable to expel this evil spirit. And though, in ascribing this inability to their "want of faith" and the "perverted turn of mind" which they had drunk in with their early training, the rebuke would undoubtedly apply, with vastly greater force, to those who twitted the poor disciples with their inability, it would be to change the whole nature of the rebuke to suppose it addressed to those who had no faith at all, and were wholly perverted. It was because faith sufficient for curing this youth was to be expected of the disciples, and because they should by that time have got rid of the perversity in which they had been reared, that Jesus exposes them thus before the rest. And who does not see that this was fitted, more than anything else, to impress upon the by-standers the severe loftiness of the training He was giving to the Twelve, and the unsophisticated footing He was on with them?
Bring him unto me--The order to bring the patient to Him was instantly obeyed; when, lo! as if conscious of the presence of his Divine Tormentor, and expecting to be made to quit, the foul spirit rages and is furious, determined to die hard, doing all the mischief he can to this poor child while yet within his grasp.