The Transfiguration

17 ^(A)Six days later, Jesus *took with Him ^(B)Peter and ^[a]James, and his brother John, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. ² And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. ³ And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. ⁴ Peter responded and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If You want, ^(C)I will make three ^[b]tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, ^(D)a voice from the cloud said, “^(E)This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!” ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell ^[c]face down to the ground and were terrified. ⁷ And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and ^(F)do not be afraid.” ⁸ And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

^9 (G)When they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “^(H)Tell the vision to no one until ^(I)the Son of Man has ^(J)risen from the dead.” ¹⁰ And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that ^(K)Elijah must come first?” ¹¹ And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; ¹² but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did ^[d]to him whatever they wanted. So also ^(L)the Son of Man is going to suffer ^[e]at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

Peter’s Confession of Christ

^13 (A)Now when Jesus came into the region of ^(B)Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that ^(C)the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say ^(D)John the Baptist; and others, ^[a](E)Elijah; and still others, ^[b]Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” ¹⁵ He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are ^(F)the ^[c]Christ, ^(G)the Son of ^(H)the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, ^(I)Simon ^[d]Barjona, because ^(J)flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are ^[e](K)Peter, and upon this ^[f]rock I will build My church; and the gates of ^(L)Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you ^(M)the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and ^(N)whatever you ^[g]bind on earth ^[h]shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you ^[i]loose on earth ^[j]shall have been loosed in heaven.” ^20 (O)Then He gave the disciples strict orders that they were to tell no one that He was ^(P)the ^[k]Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

^21 (Q)From that time ^[l]Jesus began to ^[m]point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to ^(R)suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. ²² And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “^[n]God forbid it, Lord! This shall never ^[o]happen to You!” ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, ^(S)Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on ^[p]God’s purposes, but men’s.”

Discipleship Is Costly

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, ^(T)take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For ^(U)whoever wants to save his ^[q]life will lose it; but whoever loses his ^[r]life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but ^[s]forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the ^(V)Son of Man ^(W)is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ^(X)will then repay every person according to his ^[t]deeds.

²⁸ “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the ^(Y)Son of Man ^(Z)coming in His kingdom.”

The Transfiguration

^28 (A)About eight days after these sayings, He took along ^(B)Peter, John, and James, and ^(C)went up on the mountain ^(D)to pray. ²⁹ And while He was ^(E)praying, the appearance of His face ^(F)became different, and His clothing became white and ^[a]gleaming. ³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who, appearing in ^[b]glory, were speaking of His ^(G)departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³² Now Peter and his companions ^(H)had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who were standing with Him. ³³ And as ^[c]these two men were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “^(I)Master, it is good that we are here; and ^(J)let’s make three ^[d]tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—^(K)not realizing what he was saying. ³⁴ But while he was saying this, a cloud ^[e]formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ And then ^(L)a voice came from the cloud, saying, “^(M)This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” ³⁶ And when the voice ^[f]had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And ^(N)they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.

^2 (A)And six days later Jesus *took with Him ^(B)Peter, ^[a]James, and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was ^[b]transfigured before them; ³ and ^(C)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter responded and *said to Jesus, “^(D)Rabbi, it is good that we are here; ^(E)let’s make three ^[c]tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[d]formed, overshadowing them, and ^(F)a voice ^[e]came out of the cloud: “^(G)This is My beloved Son; ^[f]listen to Him!” ⁸ And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9 (H)As they were coming down from the mountain, He ^(I)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[g]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They ^[h]seized upon ^[i]that statement, discussing with one another ^[j]what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that ^(J)Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of ^(K)the Son of Man that ^(L)He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has ^[k]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”

All Things Possible

^14 (M)And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were ^(N)amazed and began running up to greet Him. ¹⁶ And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?” ¹⁷ And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; ¹⁸ and ^[l]whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.” ¹⁹ And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” ²⁰ And they brought ^[m]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ ^(O)All things are possible for the one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that ^(P)a crowd was ^[n]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I ^[o]command you, come out of him and do not enter him ^[p]again!” ²⁶ And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up. ²⁸ When He came ^(Q)into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”