²² A Gentile^[a] woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.”

Jesus Heals the Blind

²⁷ After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.

³⁸ So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹ “Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him.

But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Psalm 4

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’

¹³ crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁷ One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. ¹⁸ And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.^[a] So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

¹⁹ Jesus said to them,^[b] “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.

²¹ “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.

He replied, “Since he was a little boy. ²² The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”

²⁵ Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil^[a] spirit, ²⁶ and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.

Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia,

⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

They replied, “He is the son of David.”

⁴³ Jesus responded, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said,

⁴⁵ Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?”