Matthew 9:18 is the 18th verse in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Content In the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort this verse is: Ταῦτα αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος αὐτοῖς, ἰδού, ἄρχων ἐλθὼν προσεκύνει αὐτῷ, λέγων ὅτι Ἡ θυγάτηρ μου ἄρτι ἐτελεύτησεν· ἀλλὰ ἐλθὼν ἐπίθες τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐπ᾿ αὐτήν, καὶ ζήσεται. In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. The New International Version translates the passage as: While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." Analysis Mark's gospel (5:22) speaks of this ruler as one of the rulers of the synagogue. There is some debate if this the daughter is really dead at this point. Some believe she is, others think the ruler means she is near death, because often "those who are wretched, are wont to exaggerate their miseries, that they may more easily obtain the aid for which they seek." And perhaps the ruler thinking of the time of the journey has reckoned her dead at this point. The ruler likely had heard that Jesus could heal by the laying on of his hands and bids him do the same here. MacEvilly notes that the faith of the ruler was less than that of the centurion, because he believed that Christ, even when absent, by a mere word could heal his servant. Commentary from the Church Fathers Chrysostom: " After His instructions He adds a miracle, which should mightily discomfit the Pharisees, because he who came to beg this miracle, was a ruler of the synagogue, and the mourning was great, for she was his only child, and of the age of twelve years, that is, when the flower of youth begins; While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came one of their chief men unto him." Augustine: " This narrative is given both by Mark and Luke, but in a quite different order; namely, when after the casting out of the dæmons and their entrance into the swine, he had returned across the lake from the country of the