< Matthew 17 >
1 After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.
2 There he was transfigured before them; 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 So Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If yoʋ want, we will make three shelters here, one for yoʋ, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were utterly afraid.
7 But Jesus came over and touched them, saying, “Rise; do not be afraid.”
8 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus.
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Do not tell anyone about the vision you saw until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”
10 Then his disciples asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
11 Jesus answered them, “Elijah does indeed come first, and he will restore all things.
12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. Even so the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”
13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus, kneeling before him
15 and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.
16 I brought him to yoʋr disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17 Jesus answered, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me.”
18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that hour.
19 Afterward the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
20 Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
22 While they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men.
23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised up.” And the disciples were greatly distressed.
24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Your teacher pays the two-drachma tax, doesn't he?”
25 He said, “Yes.” And when Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do yoʋ think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tax? From their own sons or from strangers?”
26 Peter said to him, “From strangers.” And Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.
27 But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. When yoʋ open its mouth, yoʋ will find a stater coin. Take it and give it to them for yoʋ and me.”
