International Institute of Jesus Christ

Matthew 17

Translated straight from the SBLGNT, with the grounds of every decision on the page.

Καὶ μεθ’ ἡμέρας ἓξ παραλαμβάνει ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὸν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰάκωβον καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀναφέρει αὐτοὺς εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν κατ’ ἰδίαν.

And after six days Jesus takes along Peter and James and John his brother, and brings them up onto a high mountain by themselves.

καὶ μετεμορφώθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔλαμψεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος, τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ⸀ἐγένετο λευκὰ ὡς τὸ φῶς.

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as the light.

Why this rendering

Matt.17.2 Observation

Syntactic observation

What measures the transfiguration diverges. Mark 9:3 speaks only of the clothes and measures their whiteness by a γναφεύς, a fuller — no fuller on earth could do it. Matthew 17:2 speaks first of the face (ἔλαμψεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος, his face shone like the sun) and measures the clothes ὡς τὸ φῶς, like the light. Luke 9:29 is different again — of the face, τὸ εἶδος τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἕτερον, the appearance of his face became other, with no comparison at all, and of the clothes λευκὸς ἐξαστράπτων, white and flashing. ἐξαστράπτω occurs once in the whole corpus. Three measures, then: a human trade in Mark, heavenly light in Matthew, and **in Luke lightning with nothing to compare it to**. γναφεύς is in Mark alone. φωτεινός, shining, occurs twice in Matthew — 6:22 (a sound eye and the whole body is full of light) and 17:5 (a shining cloud) — twice in Luke (11:34, 36, the parallel to 6:22), and never in Mark. And Matthew has more that Mark lacks: the disciples falling on their faces in great fear (v.6) and Jesus coming and touching them, saying rise, do not be afraid (v.7), are not in Mark 9. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀ἐγένετο).

Rendering options · 2

Adopted

“his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as the light” — kept apart from Mark 9:3's fuller

Basis Renders the measure each book chose; Mark 9:3 already reads fuller, so the two stand apart.

Level both to dazzlingly white

Basis One event, one impression.

Rejected What the whiteness is measured by is the difference between the books — a human craft in Mark, heavenly light in Matthew. Levelling erases it.

καὶ ἰδοὺ ⸀ὤφθη αὐτοῖς Μωϋσῆς καὶ Ἠλίας ⸂συλλαλοῦντες μετ’ αὐτοῦ⸃.

And look — Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος εἶπεν τῷ Ἰησοῦ· Κύριε, καλόν ἐστιν ἡμᾶς ὧδε εἶναι· εἰ θέλεις, ⸀ποιήσω ὧδε τρεῖς σκηνάς, σοὶ μίαν καὶ Μωϋσεῖ μίαν καὶ ⸂Ἠλίᾳ μίαν⸃.

And answering, Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three shelters here — one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος ἰδοὺ νεφέλη φωτεινὴ ἐπεσκίασεν αὐτούς, καὶ ἰδοὺ φωνὴ ἐκ τῆς νεφέλης λέγουσα· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα· ⸂ἀκούετε αὐτοῦ⸃.

While he was still speaking — look — a shining cloud overshadowed them; and look — a voice out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him.”

Why this rendering

Matt.17.5 Observation

Syntactic observation

Here the two books converge. At 3:17 (the baptism) Matthew had the third person Οὗτός ἐστιν while Mark 1:11 had the second, Σὺ εἶ; at the transfiguration Mark 9:7 is also Οὗτός ἐστιν — the same person in both. Matthew, though, adds a clause: ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα, in whom I am well pleased. Mark 9:7 lacks it, and Matthew 3:17 has it — Matthew sets the same sentence at both baptism and transfiguration, while Mark writes the two differently. The cloud does not diverge so much as gain a word: ἐπισκιάζω, to overshadow, stands in all three (Mark 9:7 ἐπισκιάζουσα, Matthew 17:5 ἐπεσκίασεν, Luke 9:34 ἐπεσκίαζεν), and Matthew alone adds φωτεινή, shining, on top of it. Matthew's cloud overshadows too. φωτεινός occurs twice in Matthew (6:22, 17:5) and twice in Luke (11:34, 36), never in Mark. ἐπισκιάζω stands four times in the corpus, the fourth being Luke 1:35, where the power of the Most High overshadows Mary. **And Luke 9:35 names the Son with another word** — ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἐκλελεγμένος, my chosen Son, not ἀγαπητός, beloved. Three forms, then: Mark my beloved Son; Matthew my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Luke my chosen Son. The command is the same in all three: ἀκούετε αὐτοῦ, hear him. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸂ἀκούετε αὐτοῦ⸃.).

Rendering options · 2

Adopted

“a shining cloud” and in whom I am well pleased — matching 3:17

Basis Matthew places one sentence at both 3:17 and 17:5, so the renderings match; the cloud's qualifier is kept apart from Mark's.

Drop the clause or render the cloud as overshadowing, to match Mark 9:7

Basis One scene, so the books are matched.

Rejected It would remove what stands in Matthew's text — and the pattern (diverging at the baptism, converging at the transfiguration but for one clause) is the datum of these two places.

καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ μαθηταὶ ἔπεσαν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν σφόδρα.

And hearing it the disciples fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

καὶ ⸂προσῆλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ἁψάμενος αὐτῶν⸃ εἶπεν· Ἐγέρθητε καὶ μὴ φοβεῖσθε.

And Jesus came and touched them and said, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”

ἐπάραντες δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν οὐδένα εἶδον εἰ μὴ ⸀αὐτὸν Ἰησοῦν μόνον.

And lifting up their eyes they saw no one except Jesus alone.

Καὶ καταβαινόντων αὐτῶν ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους ἐνετείλατο αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγων· Μηδενὶ εἴπητε τὸ ὅραμα ἕως οὗ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκ νεκρῶν ⸀ἐγερθῇ.

And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell no one what you saw, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ ⸀μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· Τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;

And the disciples asked him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

ὁ ⸀δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς ⸀εἶπεν· Ἠλίας μὲν ⸀ἔρχεται καὶ ἀποκαταστήσει πάντα·

And answering he said, “Elijah comes and will restore all things.

λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι Ἠλίας ἤδη ἦλθεν, καὶ οὐκ ἐπέγνωσαν αὐτὸν ἀλλὰ ἐποίησαν ἐν αὐτῷ ὅσα ἠθέλησαν· οὕτως καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μέλλει πάσχειν ὑπ’ αὐτῶν.

But I say to you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognise him but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”

τότε συνῆκαν οἱ μαθηταὶ ὅτι περὶ Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς.

Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

Καὶ ⸀ἐλθόντων πρὸς τὸν ὄχλον προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἄνθρωπος γονυπετῶν αὐτὸν

And when they came to the crowd, a man came to him, kneeling before him

καὶ λέγων· Κύριε, ἐλέησόν μου τὸν υἱόν, ὅτι σεληνιάζεται καὶ κακῶς ⸀πάσχει, πολλάκις γὰρ πίπτει εἰς τὸ πῦρ καὶ πολλάκις εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ.

and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he is moonstruck and suffers badly; for often he falls into the fire and often into the water.

Why this rendering

Matt.17.15 Observation

Syntactic observation

Two fathers describe the same boy differently. Matthew 17:15: σεληνιάζεται, he is moonstruck, καὶ κακῶς πάσχει, and suffers badly. Mark 9:17: ἔχοντα πνεῦμα ἄλαλον, he has a spirit that makes him mute. Luke 9:39: πνεῦμα λαμβάνει αὐτόν, a spirit takes hold of him — a spirit as in Mark, but nothing about muteness. Matthew names the condition by the moon; Mark and Luke narrate it by a spirit, and differently from each other. σεληνιάζομαι occurs twice in the whole corpus, both in Matthew (4:24, 17:15) — the word flagged in the ch. 4 unit arrives here for the second time. The rest of the description overlaps: falling into fire and water is at Mark 9:22 as well. But in Matthew it stands inside the father's speech, while in Mark it comes after an exchange with Jesus. And Matthew lacks entirely the long dialogue of Mark 9:20-27 (if you can — I believe; help my unbelief). Matthew 17:18 closes in a single verse: he rebuked it, the demon went out, and the boy was healed. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀πάσχει,).

Rendering options · 2

Adopted

“he is moonstruck” — matching 4:24 and kept apart from Mark 9:17

Basis Uses the rendering fixed at Matthew 4:24, and for the same reason declines a diagnosis: the two books frame one boy in two ways.

“he has epilepsy”

Basis Renders it as a modern diagnosis.

Rejected A diagnosis erases the name Matthew hangs on the moon and, with it, the contrast with Mark's spirit — the same judgement as at 4:24.

καὶ προσήνεγκα αὐτὸν τοῖς μαθηταῖς σου, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν αὐτὸν θεραπεῦσαι.

And I brought him to your disciples, and they were not able to heal him.”

ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· Ὦ γενεὰ ἄπιστος καὶ διεστραμμένη, ἕως πότε ⸂μεθ’ ὑμῶν ἔσομαι⸃; ἕως πότε ἀνέξομαι ὑμῶν; φέρετέ μοι αὐτὸν ὧδε.

And answering, Jesus said, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.”

καὶ ἐπετίμησεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ τὸ δαιμόνιον· καὶ ἐθεραπεύθη ὁ παῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης.

And Jesus rebuked it, and the demon went out of him; and the boy was healed from that hour.

Τότε προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ Ἰησοῦ κατ’ ἰδίαν εἶπον· Διὰ τί ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἠδυνήθημεν ἐκβαλεῖν αὐτό;

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why were we not able to cast it out?”

ὁ δὲ ⸀λέγει αὐτοῖς· Διὰ τὴν ⸀ὀλιγοπιστίαν ὑμῶν· ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐρεῖτε τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ· ⸂Μετάβα ἔνθεν⸃ ἐκεῖ, καὶ μεταβήσεται, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀδυνατήσει ⸀ὑμῖν.

And he says to them, “Because of your little faith. For Amen I say to you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Why this rendering

Matt.17.20 Observation

Syntactic observation

**SBLGNT has no verse 21** — v.20 is followed by v.22. The Textus Receptus prints here: this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. This is the same family of addition seen at Mark 9:29: there a phrase inside a verse (καὶ νηστείᾳ) was added; here a whole verse. Set side by side, one sentence has seeped into the two books in two different ways. This project follows the base text in both. And v.20 gives an answer Mark does not: Mark 9:29 says except by prayer; Matthew 17:20 says ὀλιγοπιστία, littleness of faith. The noun occurs only here in the whole corpus; the adjective ὀλιγόπιστος occurs four times in Matthew (6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8) and once in Luke (12:28), with the noun added once here. Luke 9 does not ask the question at all — after the boy is healed it goes straight to the crowd's astonishment, and why the disciples could not is never raised. **It is not that the answers diverge; only two books put the question that demands one.** The mustard seed is the word of 13:31 — there a picture of a kingdom growing, here the small size of faith. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀λέγει ⸀ὀλιγοπιστίαν ⸂Μετάβα ἔνθεν⸃ ⸀ὑμῖν.).

Rendering options · 2

Adopted

From v.20 to v.22 — no verse 21

Basis Follows the base text and lets the numbering skip — the same handling as not printing fasting at Mark 9:29.

Print verse 21

Basis Follows the Textus Receptus.

Rejected By our base-text decision we follow SBLGNT; and since the verse looks like the phrase of Mark 9:29 migrating into Matthew, the direction runs toward addition.

⸀Συστρεφομένων δὲ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Μέλλει ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδίδοσθαι εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων,

And as they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be handed over into the hands of men,

καὶ ἀποκτενοῦσιν αὐτόν, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγερθήσεται. καὶ ἐλυπήθησαν σφόδρα.

and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were greatly grieved.

Ἐλθόντων δὲ αὐτῶν εἰς Καφαρναοὺμ προσῆλθον οἱ τὰ δίδραχμα λαμβάνοντες τῷ Πέτρῳ καὶ εἶπαν· Ὁ διδάσκαλος ὑμῶν οὐ τελεῖ τὰ δίδραχμα;

And when they came to Capernaum, those who collect the didrachmas came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the didrachmas?”

Why this rendering

Matt.17.24 Observation

Syntactic observation

This paragraph (vv.24-27) is in Matthew alone. Two coin-names appear, each occurring only here in this corpus — δίδραχμον, a two-drachma piece, twice in v.24, and στατήρ, a stater, once in v.27. This project transliterates coins (lepton, kodrantes), and the same handling applies. And the arithmetic of the words is the content of the story: what is needed is a coin that pays for two at once, so the relation between the two names carries the sum — a relation the text does not explain. ἄγκιστρον, a fishhook, is likewise unique in the corpus: alongside Matthew's three nets (4:18 casting-net, 4:20 net, 13:47 dragnet), a fishing implement is added. The reason given in v.27 is notable: ἵνα μὴ σκανδαλίσωμεν αὐτούς, so that we may not make them stumble — the root by which Peter was called a stumbling block at 16:23.

Rendering options · 2

Adopted

“didrachma” and “stater” — the coins transliterated

Basis Transliterating coins is fixed for this corpus (lepton, kodrantes, modios, saton, stadion); the translation does not compute the relation between the two.

Render as “the temple tax” and “a coin”

Basis Says what the money is for.

Rejected The text does not say temple; it names coins. What the tax was for is knowledge from outside, and erasing the two names erases the arithmetic of the story.

Lost in translation

the relation of value between the coins

That a stater equals two didrachmas comes from the lexica, not the text — and so does the fact that for me and you adds up.

λέγει· Ναί. καὶ ⸀ἐλθόντα εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν προέφθασεν αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγων· Τί σοι δοκεῖ, Σίμων; οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τίνων λαμβάνουσιν τέλη ἢ κῆνσον; ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῶν ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων;

He says, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or the kensos — from their own sons or from others?”

⸂εἰπόντος δέ⸃· Ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων, ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἄρα γε ἐλεύθεροί εἰσιν οἱ υἱοί.

And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.

ἵνα δὲ μὴ σκανδαλίσωμεν αὐτούς, πορευθεὶς ⸀εἰς θάλασσαν βάλε ἄγκιστρον καὶ τὸν ⸀ἀναβάντα πρῶτον ἰχθὺν ἆρον, καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ εὑρήσεις στατῆρα· ἐκεῖνον λαβὼν δὸς αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ.

But so that we may not make them stumble — go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and opening its mouth you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”