And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire,.... When he has been near it; so that one part or other of his body has been scorched, or burnt, and his life in danger:and into the waters to destroy him: when he has been near any brook, or river, it has thrown him into it, in order to drown him, as into the fire to burn him.
The Ethiopic version before fire and water reads, "into the deep"; meaning either the sea or some deep pit, or off a precipice. All this is said to aggravate the case, and show the miserable condition the child was in, from the frequency of the fits, and the danger he was exposed to:but if thou canst do any thing.
This man's faith was very weak, and perhaps weaker than when he first came from home with his child.