Mark 11:24

The context

Mark 11 frames the saying with the fig tree: Jesus curses it on the way to Jerusalem, the disciples see it withered the next day, and he answers with teaching on faith and prayer. Verse 24 sits in that exchange, and verse 25 immediately adds the requirement of forgiveness. The setting is the road between Bethany and the city.

What it establishes

The saying is about confidence directed toward God in prayer. It is addressed to disciples, in the context of a demonstration of power, and it is joined at once to a command to forgive. The rhetoric is deliberately extreme, and the mountain image is proverbial for difficulty.

What it does not establish

It is not a blank check on desires. The verse is not addressed to everyone about everything; it is instruction to disciples, and its immediate context qualifies it with forgiveness and with God's will. Reading it as a guarantee that any request will be granted goes past the sentence.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• I fell out of faith as a Christian because of Mark 11:23-24 when Jesus says that God will grant us whatever we ask as long as we have faith. I did, I prayed, no new girl, no new car, and thus, no more Bible studies.

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.