Mathayo 17

Jesus transfigured on the mountain

¹Six days later Jesus took Peter and James and James’s brother John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were alone. ²There, before their eyes, he was transfigured. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes turned white as light. ³Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus. ⁴Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, “Lord, how good it is that we are here! If you want, I will put up three shelters here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵Peter was still speaking when a cloud full of light covered them with its shadow, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, and I delight in him. Listen to him.” ⁶Hearing the voice, the disciples fell face down on the ground in great fear. ⁷Then Jesus came over, laid his hand on them, and said, “Get up, and stop being afraid.” ⁸When they raised their eyes, they saw no one there but Jesus alone.

Elijah has already come

⁹On the way down the mountain Jesus gave them this order: “Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” ¹⁰So the disciples questioned him: “If that is so, why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?” ¹¹He answered, “Elijah is indeed coming, and he will set all things right. ¹²But I tell you that Elijah has come already. They did not recognize him, and they treated him however they pleased. They will make the Son of Man suffer in the same way.” ¹³The disciples then realized that he meant John the Baptist.

A boy with seizures is healed

¹⁴When they reached the crowd, a man came up to him and knelt in front of him. ¹⁵“Lord,” he said, “take pity on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. Time and again he falls into the fire, and time and again into the water.^{a 16}I brought him to your disciples, but they did not have the power to heal him.” ¹⁷Jesus replied, “You faithless and twisted generation! How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy over here to me.” ¹⁸Jesus spoke sternly to the demon, and it came out of the boy. From that moment he was well.

¹⁹Then, when they were alone with Jesus, the disciples asked him, “What kept us from driving it out?” ²⁰He told them, “It is because your faith is so small. Truly I tell you, if you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you can tell this mountain, ‘Go from here to over there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing you cannot do.”^b

Jesus speaks again of his death and raising

²²As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be given over into the power of human beings. ²³They will put him to death, and on the third day he will be raised up.” And the disciples were filled with deep sorrow.

The tax for God’s house

²⁴When they arrived in Capernaum, the men who collected the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Your teacher pays the temple tax, does he not?”^{c 25}“Yes, he does,” Peter answered. When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him before he could say anything. “Simon,” he said, “tell me what you think. When the kings of the earth take tolls or taxes, who pays them? From their own sons, or from people outside their family? ²⁶“From outsiders,” Peter replied. Jesus said to him, “So the sons owe nothing.^{d 27}Still, we do not want to give them a reason to take offense. So go down to the lake and throw in a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, open its mouth, and you will find a silver coin worth four days’ wages. Take it and give it to them for me and for you.”