All three Synoptic Gospels record this scene (Mt 17:14–21, Mk 9:14–29, Lk 9:37–43). Coming down from Mount Tabor after the Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, Christ found the remaining disciples in dispute with the scribes, surrounded by a great crowd. A man came forward, knelt, and begged: 'Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he is my only one. And lo, a spirit seizeth him, and he suddenly crieth out, and he throweth him down and teareth him... I spoke to thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not.'
Christ exclaimed: 'O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?' He commanded the boy be brought. As he was being brought, the spirit threw him down and tore him. 'How long time is it since this hath happened unto him?' the Lord asked. The father answered: 'From his infancy: And oftentimes hath he cast him into the fire and into waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do any thing, help us, having compassion on us.' Jesus said: 'If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.' The father cried out with tears: 'I do believe, Lord; help my unbelief.'
Christ rebuked the spirit: 'Deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee, go out of him; and enter not any more into him.' The spirit, crying out and tearing him, went out. The boy lay as one dead — many said: 'He is dead.' But Jesus, taking him by the hand, lifted him up; and he arose. Privately afterwards the disciples asked why they could not cast it out. He answered: 'This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.'