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Matthew17:1–13

The Transfiguration

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Matthew 17:1–13 — The Transfiguration. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai meth’ hex hēmeras ho Iēsous paralambanei ton Petron kai Iakōbon kai Iōannēn ton adelphon autou kai anapherei autous eis hypsēlon oros kat’ idian

Word by word24 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μεθ’meth’AfterG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
ἓξhexsixG1803
√ ἕξ — sixAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Plural
ἡμέραςhēmerasdaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounAccusative Feminine Plural
hēmera: day The six days are counted from Peter's confession and the first passion prediction of chapter 16. Poole records the discrepancy plainly ("Matthew saith it was six, Luke saith eight days"), and Ellicott, Benson, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit all resolve it by inclusive Jewish reckoning. The interval is not decoration: the glory comes six days after the cross was first announced.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
παραλαμβάνειparalambaneitook with [Him]G3880
√ παραλαμβάνω — to receive near, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
paralambanō: to receive near, take along A present indicative doing past work, the vivid historic present. Verifier: the same lexeme G3880 (in 49 vv) stands in the parallel Mark 9:2, one of the strongest lexical ties between the two accounts. Gill stresses that Peter is taken though he had just been rebuked: "Christ did not bear the offence in mind."
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΠέτρονPetronPeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
Petros: a piece of rock The three named here are the three of Jairus's house and of Gethsemane. Ellicott calls them "the elect among the elect"; Barnes reads the selection as preparation for ministry, Poole as the legal minimum of witnesses for a fact (three).
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἸάκωβονIakōbonJamesG2385
√ Ἰάκωβος — Jacobus, the name of three IsraelitesNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἸωάννηνIōannēnJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀδελφὸνadelphonbrotherG80
√ ἀδελφός — a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
adelphos: brother The tag distinguishes this James (son of Zebedee) from every other bearer of the name. Gill is explicit that he "was not the brother of our Lord, who was of that name, but the Son of Zebedee."
αὐτοῦautouof [James]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀναφέρειanaphereiled them upG399
√ ἀναφέρω — to take up (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
anapherō: to carry up, bear up, offer up Present tense, and the verb is the one Greek Scripture uses for bringing an offering up to an altar. Christ carries three men up a mountain six days after telling them he must be killed; the ascent is the first motion of the passion, not an escape from it.
αὐτοὺςautous. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ὑψηλὸνhypsēlona highG5308
√ ὑψηλός — lofty (in place or character)AdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄροςorosmountainG3735
√ ὄρος — perhaps akin to G142 (αἴρω)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
oros: mountain Unnamed and anarthrous. Cambridge sets it against the other mountain of the Gospel: "A contrast suggests itself, between this mountain of the Kingdom of God, and the mountain of the kingdoms of the world." The tempter's high place offered the kingdoms; this high place gives the Father's voice.
κατ’kat’byG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ἰδίανidianthemselvesG2398
√ ἴδιος — pertaining to self, iAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Singular
2

There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai metemorphōthē emprosthen autōn kai autou to prosōpon elampsen hōs ho hēlios de autou ta himatia egeneto leuka hōs to phōs

Word by word21 · parsed
καὶkai[There]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μετεμορφώθηmetemorphōthēHe was transfiguredG3339
√ μεταμορφόω — to transform (literally or figuratively, "metamorphose")VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
metamorphoō: to transform, metamorphose Aorist passive, and a genuinely rare word: the Verifier finds the lexeme in only 4 verses, one of which is 2 Corinthians 3:18, where believers are the ones being changed. Ellicott observes that everywhere else in the New Testament the word is rendered "transformed" and used spiritually. Barnes guards the limit of the claim: "It does not denote the change of the substance of a thing, but simply of its appearance." Pulpit presses the other way, that the veiling, not the shining, was the miracle.
ἔμπροσθενemprosthenbeforeG1715
√ ἔμπροσθεν — in front of (in place (literally or figuratively) or time)Preposition
αὐτῶνautōnthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
πρόσωπονprosōponfaceG4383
√ πρόσωπον — the front (as being towards view), iNounNominative Neuter Singular
prosōpon: the face, the front toward view The same noun returns in v. 6, where the disciples fall on their face. One face shines; three faces go into the dirt. Ellicott and Barnes both send the reader to Exodus 34:29-30, where Moses's face shone and Israel was afraid to come near, and Ellicott adds the lower analogy of Stephen's face in Acts 6:15.
ἔλαμψενelampsenshoneG2989
√ λάμπω — to beam, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
lampō: to beam, shine out Aorist: a flash, not a steady state.
ὡςhōslikeG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἥλιοςhēliossunG2246
√ ἥλιος — perhaps akin to the alternate of G138 (αἱρέομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
ἱμάτιαhimatiaclothesG2440
√ ἱμάτιον — a dress (inner or outer)NounNominative Neuter Plural
ἐγένετοegenetobecameG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
λευκὰleukaas whiteG3022
√ λευκός — whiteAdjectiveNominative Neuter Plural
leukos: white Plural neuter, agreeing with the garments. Gill labours the comparison with the fuller because the point is that no craft on earth produces this whiteness; the glory is from inside the man, not applied to the cloth.
ὡςhōsasG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
φῶςphōslightG5457
√ φῶς — compare G5316 (φαίνω), G5346 (φημί))NounNominative Neuter Singular
phōs: light Matthew's measure of the garments is light itself. Held with v. 5's phōteinē cloud (a lexeme the Verifier finds in only 4 verses) and the shining face, the whole scene is built of one word family: the Son shines, his clothing is light, the cloud is luminous.
3

Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai idou Mōusēs kai Ēlias ōphthē autois syllalountes met’ autou

Word by word10 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiSuddenlyG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἰδοὺidou. . .G2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
idou: behold, look An imperative, thrown in three times across vv. 3 and 5.
ΜωϋσῆςMōusēsMosesG3475
√ Μωσεύς — Moseus, Moses, or Mouses (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Mōuseus: Moses Verifier: the lexeme G3475 (in 79 vv) is shared with Mark 9:4 and Luke 9:30, the parallel accounts. The law's giver stands on a mountain again, but this time not as the one receiving words.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἨλίαςĒliasElijahG2243
√ Ἡλίας — Helias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Hēlias: Elijah Verifier: G2243 (in 29 vv). The name will control the rest of this unit: it appears in vv. 3, 4, 10, 11 and 12, moving from a figure on the mountain to a question about the scribes to a verdict about John.
ὤφθηōphthēappearedG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
horaō: to see, be seen Aorist passive singular. Gill and Poole both spend their space on the mechanics (in what bodies, and how were they recognized), and both admit the recognition must have come by revelation or from the conversation overheard. That admission is itself honest: the text does not say.
αὐτοῖςautoisbefore themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
συλλαλοῦντεςsyllalountestalkingG4814
√ συλλαλέω — to talk together, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
syllaleō: to talk together A rare compound (Verifier: 6 verses) and the hinge of the scene. Luke names the subject of the talk, the exodos he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem; Ellicott notes that this word for departure recurs in the New Testament only at 2 Peter 1:15, in a passage about this very mountain. Law and prophet are not discussing a kingdom; they are discussing a death.
μετ’met’withG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
αὐτοῦautou[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
4

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, I will put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho Petros apokritheis eipen tō Iēsou Kyrie estin kalon hēmas einai hōde ei theleis poiēsō treis skēnas hōde mian soi kai mian Mōusei kai mian Ēlia

Word by word27 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠέτροςPetrosPeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheisvvvG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
apokrinomai: to answer, respond Untranslated in the English; in Greek it marks Peter as reacting rather than being asked.
εἶπενeipensaidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦIēsouto JesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounDative Masculine Singular
ΚύριεKyrieLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounVocative Masculine Singular
kyrios: lord, supreme in authority Vocative. Ellicott notes the synoptic spread: Luke has "Master," Mark the probably original "Rabbi." Matthew's "Lord" is the highest of the three forms.
ἐστινestinit isG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καλόνkalongoodG2570
√ καλός — X better, fair, good(-ly), honest, meet, well, worthyAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
kalos: good, fine, fitting Peter's verdict on the moment. Henry's judgment on it is severe and exact: "We are wrong, if we look for a heaven here upon earth."
ἡμᾶςhēmasfor usG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Plural
εἶναιeinaito beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
ὧδεhōdehereG5602
√ ὧδε — in this same spot, iAdverb
εἰeiIfG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
θέλειςtheleisYou wishG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
thelō: to will, determine The conditional "if You wish" is real deference, and Pulpit catches it: "Even at this supreme moment, he will not set his will in opposition to his Master's." The impulse is wrong and the submission is genuine, both at once.
ποιήσωpoiēsōI will put upG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbFuture Indicative Active1st Person Singular
τρεῖςtreisthreeG5140
√ τρεῖς — "three"AdjectiveAccusative Feminine Plural
σκηνάςskēnassheltersG4633
√ σκηνή — a tent or cloth hut (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Plural
skēnē: a tent, a cloth hut Booths of branches, the shelters of Leviticus 23:42-43. Peter's instinct is liturgically literate and theologically premature: he tries to house the glory in three equal tents, and Gill's objection is the sharpest in the brief, that this puts Moses and Elijah on an equal footing with Christ. The cloud that follows is God's own tabernacle, and it covers one Son, not three tenants.
ὧδεhōdeG5602
√ ὧδε — in this same spot, iAdverb
μίανmianoneG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Singular
σοὶsoifor YouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μίανmianoneG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Singular
ΜωϋσεῖMōuseifor MosesG3475
√ Μωσεύς — Moseus, Moses, or Mouses (iNounDative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μίανmianoneG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Singular
ἨλίᾳĒliafor ElijahG2243
√ Ἡλίας — Helias (iNounDative Masculine Singular
5

While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Eti autou lalountos idou phōteinē nephelē epeskiasen autous kai idou phōnē ek tēs nephelēs legousa Houtos estin mou ho agapētos ho Huios en hō eudokēsa akouete autou

Word by word27 · parsed
ἜτιEtiWhileG2089
√ ἔτι — "yet," still (of time or degree)Adverb
αὐτοῦautou[Peter]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λαλοῦντοςlalountoswas {still} speakingG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
ἰδοὺidouG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
φωτεινὴphōteinēa brightG5460
√ φωτεινός — lustrous, iAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
phōteinos: lustrous, full of light Verifier: in only 4 verses, two of which are the lamp saying of Matthew 6:22 and Luke 11:34. The luminous cloud picks up the phōs of v. 2 and makes the whole mountain one lexical field of light.
νεφέληnephelēcloudG3507
√ νεφέλη — properly, cloudiness, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
nephelē: cloudiness, cloud Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Poole, Gill and Pulpit agree in naming this the Shechinah of Exodus 40:34-35 and 1 Kings 8:10-11, and Ellicott notes the etymological joke Peter could not have known: the Hebrew mishkan and the Greek skēnē of Peter's booths are the same idea, so the cloud is the tabernacle Peter offered to build, arriving unbuilt.
ἐπεσκίασενepeskiasenenvelopedG1982
√ ἐπισκιάζω — to cast a shade upon, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
episkiazō: to cast a shade upon Rare (Verifier: 5 verses). Luke adds that they feared as they entered it, so the disciples are not spectators of the cloud but inside its edge.
αὐτούςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἰδοὺidouG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
φωνὴphōnēa voiceG5456
√ φωνή — a tone (articulate, bestial or artificial)NounNominative Feminine Singular
phōnē: a voice, a tone The second of three such voices in the Gospels by the reckoning of Pulpit: the baptism (Matthew 3:17), this mountain, and John 12:28 before the passion.
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
νεφέληςnephelēscloudG3507
√ νεφέλη — properly, cloudiness, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
λέγουσαlegousasaidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
ΟὗτόςHoutosThisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀγαπητόςagapētosbelovedG27
√ ἀγαπητός — belovedAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
agapētos: beloved Adjective, articular and set after the noun in Greek: "the Son of me, the beloved." Geneva presses the possessive rather than the adjective, that "my" is what distinguishes Christ from adopted children. The word is not sentiment but designation, and it is spoken six days after the Son announced his own killing.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱόςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ᾧhōwhomG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounDative Masculine Singular
εὐδόκησαeudokēsaI am well pleasedG2106
√ εὐδοκέω — to think well of, iVerbAorist Indicative Active1st Person Singular
eudokeō: to think well of, be well pleased Aorist. Ellicott reads the timing as the whole point: the declaration comes attached to the death to be accomplished at Jerusalem, so it is in obedience unto death that the Son is shown worthy of the Father's love.
ἀκούετεakoueteListenG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
akouō: to hear, listen Present imperative plural, the only command in the episode. Poole, Benson and Pulpit all hear Deuteronomy 18:15 behind it, the prophet like Moses to whom Israel must hearken, and Ellicott draws the exclusion: not the traditions of the elders, not the scribes, "not even the teaching of Moses and Elias." Moses is standing right there when the Father says it.
αὐτοῦautouto HimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
6

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown in terror.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai hoi mathētai akousantes epesan epi autōn prosōpon kai sphodra ephobēthēsan

Word by word11 · parsed
καὶkaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἀκούσαντεςakousantesheard [this]G191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
akouō: to hear The same lexeme as the command of v. 5, now as an aorist participle: the hearing happens, and it flattens them.
ἔπεσανepesanthey fellG4098
√ πίπτω — to fall (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
piptō: to fall Geneva reads the fall as worship ("Fell down flat on their faces and worshipped him"); Gill and Barnes read it as collapse under the voice, "not so much out of reverence" but as men struck down. The Greek carries both and settles neither, and the pattern of Daniel 8:17-18, Daniel 10:9 and Ezekiel 1:28, where the prophet falls and is raised by a touch, favours Gill and Barnes.
ἐπὶepifacedownG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
αὐτῶνautōn. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
πρόσωπονprosōpon. . .G4383
√ πρόσωπον — the front (as being towards view), iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
prosōpon: face Singular, and the same word as the shining face of v. 2. The glory that broke out of one face puts three faces in the dust.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
σφόδραsphodravvvG4970
√ σφόδρα — of uncertain derivation) as adverbAdverb
ἐφοβήθησανephobēthēsanin terrorG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
phobeō: to frighten Aorist passive, with sphodra. Verifier: the lexeme G5399 (in 92 vv) is shared with Luke 9:34, where the fear attends entering the cloud. Barnes states the rule the moment enacts: "No man can see God and live."
7

Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Do not be afraid.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ho Iēsous prosēlthen kai hapsamenos autōn Egerthēte eipen kai mē phobeisthe

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
προσῆλθενprosēlthencame overG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
proserchomai: to approach, come near The glory does the approaching. Every other movement in the episode has been upward or downward; this one is toward.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἁψάμενοςhapsamenostouchedG680
√ ἅπτομαι — properly, to attach oneself to, iVerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
haptomai: to attach oneself to, take hold of Middle voice. Ellicott hears the hand they already knew: "The touch of the hand they had so often grasped." The same hand that shone is the hand that reaches into the dirt, which is the whole argument of the episode compressed into one participle.
αὐτῶνautōnthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἘγέρθητεEgerthēteGet upG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbAorist Imperative Passive2nd Person Plural
egeirō: to waken, to raise Aorist passive imperative. He commands upon three prostrate men the same passive he will predict of himself in v. 9, egerthē, be raised from the dead. The resurrection vocabulary is tried out first on frightened disciples.
εἶπενeipenHe saidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μὴmēvvvG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
φοβεῖσθεphobeistheDo not be afraidG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbPresent Imperative Middle or Passive2nd Person Plural
phobeō: to fear Present imperative, now negated: the terror of v. 6 is to be stopped, not merely avoided. Pulpit hears the same words as on the storm-tossed sea of Matthew 14:27.
8

And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de eparantes autōn tous ophthalmous eidon oudena ei mē monon Iēsoun auton

Word by word12 · parsed
δὲdeAnd whenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐπάραντεςeparantesthey looked upG1869
√ ἐπαίρω — to raise up (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
epairō: to raise up, lift up The verb of the recovery: the eyes that were forced down in v. 6 are lifted in v. 8, between them the touch of v. 7.
αὐτῶνautōn. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τοὺςtous. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ὀφθαλμοὺςophthalmous. . .G3788
√ ὀφθαλμός — the eye (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
εἶδονeidonthey sawG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
horaō: to see, to attend to Same lexeme as the passive "were seen" of v. 3. Moses and Elijah were shown; now they are not there to be seen. The same verb opens and closes the vision.
οὐδέναoudenano oneG3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
oudeis: not even one Masculine: no person. Luke's wording, that when the voice was past Jesus was found alone, is why Gill insists the Father's "hear him" cannot be spread across three figures.
εἰeiexceptG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
μόνονmonon. . .G3440
√ μόνον — merelyAdverb
monon: merely, alone With the preceding emphatic pronoun, the strongest way Greek has of saying only him. Pulpit reads it as the end of an era: "The Law and the prophets, types and predictions, are fulfilled in Christ, and are so far superseded." Ellicott reads it pastorally instead, as a relief and a mercy that the ecstasy did not last.
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
αὐτὸνautonG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
9

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Do not tell anyone about this vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai autōn katabainontōn ek tou orous ho Iēsous eneteilato autois legōn eipēte Mēdeni to horama heōs hou ho Huios tou anthrōpou egerthē ek nekrōn

Word by word24 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiAsG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτῶνautōntheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
καταβαινόντωνkatabainontōnwere coming downG2597
√ καταβαίνω — to descend (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
katabainō: to descend Present participle, genitive absolute: the command is given while they are still on the way down. The glory has no plateau in this Gospel; the narrative immediately walks downhill toward the crowd and the next suffering prediction.
ἐκek. . .G1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
ὄρουςorousmountainG3735
√ ὄρος — perhaps akin to G142 (αἴρω)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐνετείλατοeneteilatocommandedG1781
√ ἐντέλλομαι — to enjoinVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
entellomai: to enjoin, lay a charge on Middle voice, a formal injunction.
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
λέγωνlegōnG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
εἴπητεeipēteDo not tell anyoneG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
ΜηδενὶMēdeni. . .G3367
√ μηδείς — not even one (man, woman, thing)AdjectiveDative Masculine Singular
τὸto[about this]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ὅραμαhoramavisionG3705
√ ὅραμα — something gazed at, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
horama: something gazed at Ellicott and Geneva disagree over the word's flavour, and the disagreement matters: if it means simply "what was seen," the prohibition guards a fact; if it means a dream-sight, it guards an impression. Luke's paraphrase, "those things which they had seen," and Mark's the same, favour Ellicott, and Pulpit cites both to that effect.
ἕωςheōsuntilG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
οὗhou. . .G3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounGenitive Masculine Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
huios: son The self-designation "Son of Man" arrives one verse after the Father's "this is my beloved Son," and it arrives attached to death and resurrection. Verifier: G5207 (in 344 vv) is among the lexemes shared with Mark 9:12, the parallel of vv. 11-12.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐγερθῇegerthēhas been raisedG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbAorist Subjunctive Passive3rd Person Singular
egeirō: to waken, to raise Aorist subjunctive passive, the same root and voice as the imperative Egerthēte in v. 7. Barnes reads the silence as a matter of timing and evidence, three witnesses held in reserve until the resurrection makes their testimony usable; Benson and Poole read it as mercy toward a faith that could not yet hold glory and cross together; Gill adds the practical motive, that the other disciples would either disbelieve or be grieved.
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
νεκρῶνnekrōn[the] deadG3498
√ νεκρός — dead (literally or figurativelyAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
10

The disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi mathētai epērōtēsan auton legontes Ti oun hoi grammateis legousin hoti Ēlian dei elthein prōton

Word by word16 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἐπηρώτησανepērōtēsanaskedG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
eperōtaō: to ask for, question closely An intensive compound: they press him.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λέγοντεςlegontesG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ΤίTiWhyG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
οὖνounthenG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
οἱhoi{do} theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
γραμματεῖςgrammateisscribesG1122
√ γραμματεύς — scribe, town-clerkNounNominative Masculine Plural
grammateus: scribe, town-clerk The professional expounders of the law, and here the source of a genuine exegetical expectation, not a fabrication. Gill documents the tradition at length from rabbinic sources and from Justin Martyr's Trypho, showing it was still standard centuries later.
λέγουσινlegousinsayG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἨλίανĒlianElijahG2243
√ Ἡλίας — Helias (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Hēlias: Elijah Verifier: G2243 (in 29 vv), the lexeme that links this passage to Mark 9:12, Matthew 16:14, Mark 8:28 and Luke 9:19, where Elijah is one of the guesses about who Jesus is. The name has been circulating in the narrative as a misidentification of Jesus before it becomes a question about John.
δεῖdeimustG1163
√ δεῖ — also deon deh-on'VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
dei: it is necessary, it must be The word of binding necessity. The disciples are not questioning the prophecy; they grant it and cannot fit it to what they have just seen, since Elijah came for minutes and left. Gill shows how the scribes turned the same necessity into an argument against Jesus's messiahship, and Poole traces the expectation to Malachi 4:5 and to the interrogation of the Baptist in John 1:21.
ἐλθεῖνeltheincomeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
πρῶτονprōtonfirstG4412
√ πρῶτον — firstly (in time, place, order, or importance)AdverbSuperlative
prōton: firstly, in time or order The whole difficulty is one word: first, that is, before the Messiah.
11

Jesus replied, “Elijah does indeed come, and he will restore all things.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho apokritheis eipen Ēlias men erchetai kai apokatastēsei panta

Word by word10 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheisvvvG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
apokrinomai: to answer The same untranslated participle that introduced Peter's outburst in v. 4 now introduces Christ's reply. Matthew uses one idiom for both, which quietly pairs the rash speech and the corrective one.
εἶπενeipen[Jesus] repliedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἨλίαςĒliasElijahG2243
√ Ἡλίας — Helias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
μὲνmen{does} indeedG3303
√ μέν — properly, indicative of affirmation or concession (in fact)Conjunction
men: indeed, in fact The concession half of a two-part sentence whose corrective half opens v. 12. Read together, the two verses concede the prophecy and relocate its fulfilment.
ἔρχεταιerchetaicomeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
erchomai: to come Present tense, and the tense is the crux. Pulpit rests a literal future coming of Elijah on it; Ellicott says the present and future here "point to a deeper truth," that the Elijah ministry of preached repentance is perpetual rather than a single episode. The brief does not settle this, and we do not pretend it does.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀποκαταστήσειapokatastēseihe will restoreG600
√ ἀποκαθίστημι — to reconstitute (in health, home or organization)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apokathistēmi: to reconstitute, restore A future indicative of putting something back as it was. Barnes keeps it historical and modest, that John was "the instrument of an extensive reformation" and restored correct views of the Messiah; Gill reads it through Malachi 4:6 and Luke 1:17, turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and sets it against the rabbinic version in which Elijah returns to adjudicate questions of purity, which he calls a lesser thing than the true Elijah's work; Ellicott reads it forward to Acts 3:21 and Romans 8:21 as a cosmic restitution. The verb itself decides between none of these; it only insists that something lost is to be put back.
πάνταpantaall thingsG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
12

But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de legō hymin hoti Ēlias ēdē ēlthen kai ouk epegnōsan auton alla epoiēsan en autō hosa ēthelēsan houtōs kai ho Huios tou anthrōpou mellei paschein hyp’ autōn

Word by word27 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
de: but, and The corrective half of the sentence begun with men in v. 11.
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἨλίαςĒliasElijahG2243
√ Ἡλίας — Helias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἤδηēdē{has} alreadyG2235
√ ἤδη — even nowAdverb
ēdē: even now, already One adverb relocates the whole prophecy from the future to the past.
ἦλθενēlthencomeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
erchomai: to come Aorist ēlthen here, against the present erchetai of v. 11. The tense shift is the entire exegetical battlefield: Ellicott takes the aorist as decisive for John, Pulpit takes the present as decisive for a future Elijah, and each is reading a real feature of the Greek.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἐπέγνωσανepegnōsanthey did not recognizeG1921
√ ἐπιγινώσκω — to know upon some mark, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
epiginōskō: to know upon a mark, recognize Failure of recognition, not of information. Gill is precise about the sequence: they "seemed pleased with his ministry for a while, but afterwards rejected his doctrine and baptism," and Ellicott turns the verb on the reader, asking whether those who still await a personal Elijah are not unconsciously repeating the same dimness of perception.
αὐτὸνautonhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἀλλὰallabutG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
ἐποίησανepoiēsanhave doneG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐνentoG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτῷautōhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ὅσαhosawhateverG3745
√ ὅσος — as (much, great, long, etcPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἠθέλησανēthelēsanthey wishedG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
thelō: to will, wish The same verb Peter used of Christ's will in v. 4 ("if You wish") is now used of the crowd's will worked out in a man's body. Matthew sets a deferential theleis beside a murderous ēthelēsan.
οὕτωςhoutōsIn the same wayG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
καὶkai. . .G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
μέλλειmelleiwillG3195
√ μέλλω — to intend, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
πάσχεινpascheinsufferG3958
√ πάσχω — to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
paschō: to experience a sensation, usually painful The last significant word of the discourse, in the present infinitive with mellei: the suffering is imminent, not distant. Ellicott names what this does to the Gospel's tone from here on: "All is, in one aspect, darker, sadder, more sombre. He is drawing nearer to the cross." Barnes supplies the text Mark attaches, that it was written of the Son of Man that he must suffer and be set at naught (Isaiah 53).
ὑπ’hyp’at their handsG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
αὐτῶνautōn. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
13

Then the disciples understood that He was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

tote hoi mathētai synēkan hoti eipen autois peri Iōannou tou Baptistou

Word by word11 · parsed
τότεtoteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
tote: then, at that time Emphatic and slightly damning: the information was available twice before.
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
συνῆκανsynēkanunderstoodG4920
√ συνίημι — to put together, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
syniēmi: to put together, comprehend The verb of assembling pieces into sense. Ellicott reads the verse as evidence of the evangelists' candour, since it records "the frankness with which they owned how slowly they had passed from the literalism of the scribes"; Pulpit reads their slowness as the norm and this moment as the exception; Gill turns it into an apologetic gain, that since the true Elijah had come and finished his office, the scribes' objection now confirms rather than undermines Jesus's messiahship.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
εἶπενeipenHe was speakingG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisto themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
περὶperiaboutG4012
√ περί — properly, through (all over), iPreposition
ἸωάννουIōannouJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΒαπτιστοῦBaptistouBaptistG910
√ Βαπτιστής — a baptizer, as an epithet of Christ's forerunnerNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Baptistēs: a baptizer The unit ends on the name of a man already dead by Herod's order (Matthew 14:10, cited by Barnes). Matthew's last word here is the forerunner's title, and the sentence before it said the Son of Man would go the same way.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Six days after the cross was named — 17:1-2

Matthew dates the glory: μεθ’ ἓξ ἡμέρας, after six days, counted (so Ellicott, Benson, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit alike) from Peter's confession and the first announcement of the passion in chapter 16. Poole records the friction with Luke's "about eight days" without smoothing it, and Geneva resolves it by inclusive reckoning: Luke "counts eight days, containing in that number the first and last." The two verbs are present tense, παραλαμβάνει and ἀναφέρει, so the ascent happens in front of us; and the second of them is the verb for carrying an offering up. Ellicott, Cambridge, Barnes, Gill and Pulpit all note that the mountain is unnamed and that Tabor is tradition rather than text, with Cambridge and Ellicott preferring a spur of Hermon near Caesarea Philippi and Cambridge adding the military objection, that Tabor's summit was then fortified. Then μετεμορφώθη, aorist passive, a lexeme the Verifier finds in only four verses of the Greek Scriptures. Barnes stakes out the minimum: the word "does not denote the change of the substance of a thing, but simply of its appearance." Gill reads it maximally, that he now "appeared in the form and majesty of God." Pulpit reframes the whole dispute with a borrowed epigram, that the Transfiguration "was less a new miracle than the temporary cessation of an habitual miracle." Ellicott supplies the detail all three need, from Luke: it happened while he prayed.

ii. The law and the prophet, discussing a death — 17:3-4

ὤφθη is passive and singular: Moses and Elijah were shown. Ellicott lays out the fitness of the pair, one "the great representative of the Law," the other of "the whole goodly fellowship of the prophets," and both men whose endings were irregular, no known grave for the one (Deuteronomy 34:6) and no death at all for the other (2 Kings 2:11). Cambridge compresses it: "The whole history of the Jewish Church is brought in one glance." What they are doing is συλλαλοῦντες, a rare present participle (Verifier: 6 verses) which Matthew leaves without content; Luke supplies it, and Ellicott, Benson, Cambridge and Barnes all report it, that the subject was the exodos he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. Ellicott adds a detail worth its weight: that word for departure recurs in the New Testament only at 2 Peter 1:15, where the writer is remembering this mountain. So the glory's own conversation is about the cross. Peter, meanwhile, offers three σκηνάς, booths of branches (Gill, Barnes, Pulpit, Cambridge), one apiece. Cambridge notes the better reading is the singular "let me make." Gill's objection is the most theologically exact in the brief, that the proposal gives Moses and Elijah "a separate tabernacle as he," and Henry's is the most pastoral: "Whatever tabernacles we propose to make for ourselves in this world, we must always remember to ask Christ's leave."

iii. The cloud answers Peter, and the voice excludes his guests — 17:5-8

Peter is still talking when a φωτεινὴ νεφέλη overshadows them. The adjective is rare (Verifier: phōteinos in 4 verses) and so is the verb ἐπεσκίασεν (5 verses), and together they make a paradox Poole refuses to resolve, a bright cloud that nonetheless "had something of a shadow in it." Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Poole, Gill and Pulpit all name it the Shechinah of Exodus 40:34-35 and 1 Kings 8:10-11, and Ellicott adds the etymological point that carries the argument: the very form of the word Shechinah connects it, he says, with both the Hebrew mishkan and the Greek skēnē for tabernacle, so God's own tabernacle arrives while Peter is offering to build three. Pulpit sets the cloud against Sinai's: that one "was dark and threatening," this one "bright, coming not to terrify, but to teach and to bless." Then the voice, which Benson, Poole, Barnes and Pulpit read as the words of Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1 with the command of Deuteronomy 18:15 added, and Ellicott draws the exclusion out of it: not the traditions of the elders, "not even the teaching of Moses and Elias." The hearing commanded in v. 5 immediately flattens the hearers in v. 6, faces in the dirt (Gill and Barnes read collapse, Geneva reads worship), and v. 7 is the answer: a middle-voice participle, he takes hold of them, and an aorist passive imperative, Ἐγέρθητε, be raised, the same root he will use of his own resurrection two verses later. Then αὐτὸν Ἰησοῦν μόνον. Pulpit calls the Law and prophets "so far superseded"; Cambridge, more carefully, says only that "to His voice alone the Church will listen."

iv. Downhill: Elijah has come, and so has the suffering — 17:9-13

Coming down, the command is silence: tell the ὅραμα to no one until the Son of Man ἐγερθῇ from the dead. Ellicott is careful with the noun, that it "means simply what they had seen, and does not suggest, as the English word does, the thought of a dream-state"; Geneva concedes the opposite, that the word is usually used of what is seen in a dream. Barnes counts the three witnesses against the legal requirement and reads the silence as timing, not secrecy; Benson and Poole read it as protection of a faith not yet able to hold both glory and cross. The disciples' question is about the scribes' Elijah, and Poole and Gill both document the tradition at length from Jewish sources, Gill adding the polemical use the scribes made of it: "if he was the Messiah, Elias would be come; but whereas he was not come, therefore he could not be the Messiah." Jesus concedes the prophecy (ἔρχεται, present) and then flatly historicizes it (ἦλθεν, aorist): Elijah came, and they did not ἐπέγνωσαν him, a verb Ellicott glosses as full recognition. Here the commentators split, and honestly. Ellicott holds that the prophecy "had been fulfilled in the Baptist" and that expecting another personal advent is itself the dimness Christ condemns; Pulpit holds the opposite with equal firmness, that "Christ is here alluding to his own second coming, which shall be preceded by the appearance of Elijah in person," and Cambridge simply reports both parties. Matthew himself ends with the disciples' understanding, συνῆκαν, they put it together: John the Baptist. And the sentence before it is the one they did not ask about, οὕτως, in the same way the Son of Man is about to suffer.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Our own fallible reading, offered to be tested. The unit is framed by two suffering predictions and its central conversation is about a death: Matthew dates the glory six days after the cross was announced, and Luke tells us the subject Moses and Elijah were discussing. So the mountain is not an interruption of the passion but its credential. Notice what the Greek does with resurrection vocabulary: the aorist passive imperative to three men flat on their faces in v. 7 (Ἐγέρθητε, be raised) is the same root and voice as the Son of Man's own being-raised in v. 9 (ἐγερθῇ). The first person raised on this mountain is not Jesus. Notice also what the cloud does to Peter's plan: he offers three σκηναί and God supplies one σκηνή of light, and when it lifts there are not three tenants but αὐτὸν Ἰησοῦν μόνον. We take the exclusion seriously and the supersession cautiously: the text removes Moses and Elijah from the field of vision, and it does not say the Law and the prophets were wrong, only that they are no longer the voice to be heard. Our own judgment, which we hold loosely because Ellicott and Pulpit divide over it in the brief, is that vv. 11-12 make John the Baptist the Elijah the prophecy required, while leaving the Elijah ministry itself, repentance preached before the Lord comes, standing open until the end. And the last word of the episode is not glory: it is πάσχειν, to suffer, in the same way.

The mountain does not cancel the road to Jerusalem; it signs it. (⚙ our own line, not a verse.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The rare word for talking: Matthew's mountain and Mark's verbal / quotation: confirmed

Matthew leaves the content of the mountain conversation blank; Mark uses the same uncommon compound and Luke supplies the subject. The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme συλλαλέω (G4814, in only 6 verses) between Matthew 17:3 and Mark 9:4, alongside the shared names Elijah (G2243, 29 verses) and Moses (G3475, 79 verses), and παραλαμβάνω (G3880, 49 verses) between Matthew 17:1 and Mark 9:2. Ellicott, Benson, Cambridge and Barnes all report from Luke that the topic was the exodos to be accomplished at Jerusalem, and Ellicott notes that word recurs in the New Testament only at 2 Peter 1:15, in a passage recalling this mountain.

Mark 9:2 · Mark 9:4 · Luke 9:33

basis: Verifier: rare shared Greek lexeme G4814 συλλαλέω (in 6 vv) with Mark 9:4, plus G2243 Ἡλίας (29 vv), G3475 Μωσεύς (79 vv) and G3880 παραλαμβάνω (49 vv) with Mark 9:2. Greek to Greek, so the verbal tier is available. Luke 9:33 is included on the shared names only, a weaker basis than the Mark link.

Metamorphosed: the verb Paul turns on the church verbal / quotation: confirmed

μετεμορφώθη is not a special-purpose word for this event. The Verifier finds the lexeme in only four verses of the Greek Scriptures, and one of them is 2 Corinthians 3:18, where believers with unveiled face are being changed into the same image from glory to glory; the noun πρόσωπον is shared as well. Ellicott records that everywhere outside this scene and its Mark parallel the word is rendered "transformed" and used spiritually, and Henry, reading the episode pastorally, expects it to "give them an idea of the glory prepared for them, when changed by his power and made like him." Pulpit quotes Gregory to the same end, that the Transfiguration announces "the glory of the final resurrection." The link is a real verbal one; what is inferred rather than stated is that Paul had this mountain in view.

2 Corinthians 3:18

basis: Verifier: rare shared Greek lexeme G3339 μεταμορφόω (in 4 vv) plus G4383 πρόσωπον (71 vv). Greek to Greek verbal link between Matthew 17:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18; the theological inference that Paul alludes to this event is ours and is not part of the recorded basis.

Full of light: the cloud and the lamp structural / thematic: confirmed

The adjective for the cloud, φωτεινή, is rare enough to be worth following. The Verifier finds G5460 in only four verses, two of which are the lamp saying of Matthew 6:22 and Luke 11:34, where the single eye makes the whole body phōteinon, full of light. In Matthew the same word therefore covers both the vessel that holds God's presence on the mountain and the body of the disciple whose eye is sound; and on the mountain the disciples' eyes are exactly what fail them, pressed into the ground in v. 6 and lifted again only in v. 8. The verbal tie is real; the reading we draw from it is ours.

Matthew 6:22 · Luke 11:34

basis: Verifier: rare shared Greek lexeme G5460 φωτεινός (in 4 vv) with G3788 ὀφθαλμός (85 vv) in both Matthew 6:22 and Luke 11:34. Deliberately downgraded from the verbal tier the rarity would allow: the adjective is used in two different senses (a luminous cloud, a body full of light) and no quotation or citation is involved, so the honest basis is a rare shared lexeme inside a shared motif of light.

Overshadowed: the cloud that covers and the fear of entering it verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἐπισκιάζω (G1982) occurs in only five verses by the Verifier's count, and one of them is Luke 9:34, the parallel, which adds what Matthew omits: they feared as they entered into the cloud. Poole builds his whole note on that addition, that the cloud encompassed all six figures and "This still increased their fear"; Pulpit agrees that the apostles were within its influence though outside its immediate contact. Barnes reads the verb against its own root, insisting it here means to be diffused over rather than to shade, which is a real and unresolved disagreement with Poole's "something of a shadow in it."

Luke 9:34

basis: Verifier: rare shared Greek lexeme G1982 ἐπισκιάζω (in 5 vv), with G3507 νεφέλη (21 vv) and G5399 φοβέω (92 vv). Greek to Greek parallel account, so the verbal tier is available.

The voice out of the cloud: three Old Testament texts in one sentence structural / thematic: confirmed

The Father's words are a composite. Pulpit names two of the sources outright, Psalm 2:7 ("Thou art my Son") and Isaiah 42:1 ("Behold my Servant ... my Chosen in whom my soul delighteth"), calling them "fontal in the earlier Scriptures"; Benson, Poole and Pulpit all identify the closing command with Deuteronomy 18:15, the prophet like Moses "unto him shall ye hearken," and Poole draws the irony that Moses, standing there, "saw what he had before prophesied of ... fulfilled." Note the tier honestly: the citation is explicit in the text, but the link runs from Greek Matthew to Hebrew Psalms, Isaiah and Deuteronomy, so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and the verbal tier is unavailable by construction, not by doubt.

Psalm 2:7 · Isaiah 42:1 · Deuteronomy 18:15

basis: Named by Pulpit (Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 42:1) and by Benson, Poole and Pulpit (Deuteronomy 18:15). The quotation is explicit in the text, but the link is cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed and the verbal tier is unavailable; basis is commentator attestation plus the composite wording itself.

Elijah must come first: Malachi, and a dispute the brief does not settle structural / thematic: confirmed

The scribes' doctrine in v. 10 is Malachi's. Pulpit cites both halves, the Messenger of Malachi 3:1 and the Elijah of Malachi 4:5, and argues that the two are distinct figures which the Jewish reading collapsed into one; Gill cites Malachi 4:6 as the true gloss on "restore all things," read through Luke 1:17; Poole documents the tradition from Jewish sources and from the questioning of John in John 1:21. The commentators then divide, and we record the division rather than resolving it: Ellicott holds the prophecy fulfilled in the Baptist and warns that those still awaiting a personal Elijah place themselves with those whose perception Christ condemned; Pulpit holds that v. 11's present and future tenses require a literal future coming; Cambridge reports both positions without choosing. Cross-Testament, so no verbal tier.

Malachi 4:5 · Malachi 3:1 · Luke 1:17

basis: Explicit in the text (the scribes' doctrine and Christ's concession) and named by Pulpit, Gill, Poole, Barnes, Cambridge and Ellicott. Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew) for Malachi, so shared Strong's lexemes cannot be computed and the verbal tier is unavailable. The interpretation is contested among these same sources; only the citation is confirmed here.

Two men on a mountain, a shining face, and booths of branches typological

Every furnishing of this scene has a precedent. Moses went up into a mountain and the cloud covered it six days (Exodus 24:12-18); he came down with a shining face that made Israel afraid to approach (Exodus 34:29-35), which Ellicott and Barnes both cite for v. 2, and Ellicott again for the disciples' fear in v. 6. Elijah met God at a mountain after forty days (1 Kings 19:8-13). The cloud filling the tabernacle and the temple so that the priests could not stand to minister (Exodus 40:34-35, 1 Kings 8:10-11) is named by Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Poole, Gill and Pulpit. Peter's three σκηναί are the booths of Leviticus 23:42-43, as Gill, Barnes, Pulpit and Cambridge all say. This is a figural reading of the mountain as the second Sinai, and it is the ancient and widely-held one, not our invention; the tier is typological because it reads pattern and fulfilment, not quotation, and because it is cross-Testament no verbal basis exists.

Exodus 24:12-18 · Exodus 34:29-35 · Exodus 40:34-35 · 1 Kings 19:8-13 · 1 Kings 8:10-11 · Leviticus 23:42-43

basis: Figural reading of the Transfiguration as a second Sinai, attested across the brief (Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Poole, Gill, Pulpit, Cambridge cite these exact passages). Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's basis is computable; widely-held rather than novel.

Falling facedown before the voice structural / thematic: confirmed

The collapse of v. 6 follows a fixed pattern. Benson lists the precedents himself: Genesis 15:12, Isaiah 6:5, Ezekiel 2:1, Daniel 10:8, Revelation 1:17, adding that "human nature could not of itself support such manifestations." Pulpit adds Isaiah 6:5-7 and Daniel 10:8-10 for the touch that restores. The pattern is tight: hearing or seeing, prostration, a touch, a word forbidding fear, then standing (compare Daniel 8:17-18, Daniel 10:9, Ezekiel 1:28). What Matthew does with it is distinctive: the one who touches and raises is the one whose glory knocked them down.

Daniel 8:17-18 · Daniel 10:9 · Ezekiel 1:28 · Isaiah 6:5

basis: Shared prophetic call pattern (voice, prostration, touch, do not fear, raised), with the specific references supplied by Benson and Pulpit. Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed; no quotation is claimed.

The eyewitness claim, and a provenance the brief itself disputes flagged: verify source

2 Peter 1:16-18 claims first-hand presence: not cunningly devised fables, but eyewitnesses of his majesty, who heard the voice out of the excellent glory on the holy mount. Barnes, Benson, Poole, Gill and Pulpit all use it as Peter's own corroboration, and Gill leans on it for the clause "in whom I am well pleased" which Mark and Luke lack. But Ellicott flags the source in the same breath as he uses it, allowing it evidential weight only "though with less certainty, owing to the doubt which hangs over the genuineness of that Epistle." We flag it rather than settle it: the passage's relevance is not in question, its authorship is contested within our own sources.

2 Peter 1:16-18

basis: No Verifier lexeme basis was computed for this pair. The link is thematic and explicit in 2 Peter's own wording, but authorship of 2 Peter is disputed inside the brief itself: Ellicott grants it weight only with reservation about the Epistle's genuineness, while Barnes, Benson, Poole, Gill and Pulpit treat it as Peter's testimony. Verify before relying on it as apostolic corroboration.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The glory that was always there, briefly unveiled ancient/widely-held

⚙ The passive μετεμορφώθη does not say a glory was added. Pulpit, borrowing from an older writer, puts it as sharply as it can be put: the event was "less a new miracle than the temporary cessation of an habitual miracle; for the veiling of his glory was the real marvel." Gill says the same from the other side, that he who had appeared "in the form of a servant" now appeared "in the form and majesty of God." Ellicott and Barnes both hear John 1:14 behind the scene, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, and Barnes sends the reader to Hebrews 1:3, where the Son is the brightness, the outshining, of God's glory. The restraint Barnes insists on is worth keeping: the text reports a change of appearance, not of substance. Even so the conclusion the sources share is that what shone through the flesh was his own.

John 1:14 · Hebrews 1:3

Hear him: the prophet like Moses, with Moses standing there ancient/widely-held

⚙ The single command of the episode is ἀκούετε αὐτοῦ, and Benson, Poole and Pulpit all identify it as Deuteronomy 18:15, unto him shall ye hearken. Poole draws out what the staging does: Moses, present on the mountain, "saw what he had before prophesied of ... fulfilled," and the command establishes Christ "as the only Doctor and Teacher of his church." Ellicott names the exclusion this creates, not the traditions of the elders, not the scribes, "not even the teaching of Moses and Elias," and sets Hebrews 1:1-2 beside it, God having spoken in the prophets and now in a Son. Then Matthew removes the two witnesses from the field of vision: αὐτὸν Ἰησοῦν μόνον. Cambridge's formulation is the careful one and we adopt it: "To His voice alone the Church will listen."

Deuteronomy 18:15 · Hebrews 1:1-2 · Acts 3:22

The true tabernacle: one cloud instead of three booths ancient/widely-held

⚙ Peter proposes three σκηναί and is answered, before Christ can reply, by a cloud. Ellicott makes the philological connection that turns the answer into a doctrine: the Shechinah's name links "both the Hebrew (mishkan) and the Greek (skené) words for tabernacle," so the cloud is a tabernacle arriving where a tabernacle was offered, and its coming "was a witness that no tabernacle made with hands was now needed, that the humanity of Christ was the true tabernacle of God," with John 1:14 and Revelation 21:3 attached. Gill reaches the same place by another road, that Moses and Elias were not to be housed "in distinct apartments, and separate from Christ," but are "fulfilled and swallowed up in him." The offer of equal housing is refused; the glory takes one dwelling, and it is a body.

John 1:14 · Revelation 21:3 · Leviticus 23:42-43

Raised: the word tried out on the disciples first novel

⚙ This is our own reading and we mark it as such. In v. 7 Christ speaks an aorist passive imperative over three men lying on their faces, Ἐγέρθητε, be raised. Two verses later he uses the identical root and voice of himself, ἐγερθῇ, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead. Nothing in the brief's commentary joins these two occurrences; the grammar does. The disciples receive, by a touch on the mountain, the verb they will not understand when it is spoken of him on the way down (Mark, cited by Barnes and Gill, records them still asking what rising from the dead should mean). If the reading holds, then the order of the Gospel is that resurrection is first done to the terrified and only afterwards to the Christ, which is also the order of 2 Corinthians 3:18, where the changing is done to us. We offer it to be tested, and the tense-by-tense observation stands whether or not the theology drawn from it does.

Matthew 17:7 · Matthew 17:9 · 2 Corinthians 3:18

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text and sources. The English base is the BSB (CC0); the word data, parses and Strong's numbers are the Berean interlinear as supplied in the brief, and every lexeme frequency cited (metamorphoō 4 verses, phōteinos 4, episkiazō 5, syllaleō 6, Hēlias 29, Mōuseus 79, paralambanō 49) is the Verifier's count, not ours. Commentary is quoted verbatim from ten public-domain sources; the JFB entry for this whole unit is a cross-reference stub ("For the exposition, see on Lu 9:28-36") and contains no exposition of Matthew, so JFB is cited nowhere above. Several entries in the brief are capped, including Pulpit on v. 1, Ellicott on v. 2, Benson on v. 5, Gill on vv. 3, 5 and 10, and Poole on v. 13; nothing above depends on a capped passage's unseen remainder.

What is uncertain. (1) The mountain is unnamed in all three Gospels. Tabor is a tradition Pulpit traces to the fourth century (Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerome) and which Ellicott, Cambridge, Barnes and Gill all treat as doubtful, Cambridge and Ellicott noting Tabor's summit was then fortified and preferring a spur of Hermon; we assert nothing. (2) Matthew's "after six days" and Luke's "about eight" are reconciled by inclusive reckoning in six of our sources; Poole simply records the difference, and we let both stand. (3) Whether the garments were compared to snow is a live textual question in Mark, flagged by Cambridge and Pulpit; Matthew reads φῶς, light. (4) At v. 4 Cambridge reports that the best manuscripts read "let me make" (singular) against the received "let us make." (5) At v. 11 Pulpit reports that many good manuscripts omit "first," probably imported from Mark. (6) The nature of the change is genuinely disputed inside the brief: Barnes limits it to appearance, Gill and Pulpit read the veil of the flesh withdrawn. (7) The identity of Elijah in vv. 11-12 divides Ellicott (fulfilled in John, no further personal coming) from Pulpit (a literal future coming required by the tenses), with Cambridge reporting both; our sola reading leans to Ellicott and says so. (8) 2 Peter 1:16-18 is used by five of our sources as Peter's own corroboration, and its authorship is doubted by a sixth (Ellicott); that thread is badged "flagged: verify source" for exactly that reason. (9) How the disciples recognized Moses and Elijah is not stated in the text: Gill, Poole and Pulpit each offer conjectures and each admit they are conjectures. (10) The resurrection-verb link between v. 7 and v. 9 is our own observation of the grammar, unsupported by any commentator in this brief, and the christ entry drawn from it is marked novel.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)