ὅπου ἂν α. καταλάβῃ, wherever it happens to seize him. The possession (ἔχοντα, Mark 9:17) is conceived of as intermittent; “the way of the spirit inferred from the characteristic phenomena of the disease” (The Miraculous Element in the Gospels, p. 181). Then follows a graphic description of the ensuing symptoms: spasms (ῥήσσει, a late form of ῥήγνυμι), foaming (ἀφρίζει from ἀφρός : he, the boy, foameth), grinding of the teeth (τρίζει τ. ὀδ.), then the final stage of motionless stupor graphically described as withering (ξηραίνεται), for which Euthy. gives as an equivalent ἀναισθητεῖ, and Weizsäcker “und wird starr ”.

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Old Testament