{Save by prayer} (ei m(8820)en proseuch(8869)). The addition of
"and of fasting" does not appear in the two best Greek
manuscripts (Aleph and B). It is clearly a late addition to help
explain the failure. But it is needless and also untrue. Prayer
is what the nine had failed to use. They were powerless because
they were prayerless. Their self-complacency spelled defeat.  Mt
17:20  has "because of your little faith" (oligopistian). That
is true also. They had too much faith in themselves, too little
in Christ. "They had trusted to the semi-magical power with which
they thought themselves invested" (Swete). "Spirits of such
malignity were quick to discern the lack of moral power and would
yield to no other" (_ibid_.).