Matthew 17
He is transfigured on the mountain. Below it he heals a boy, speaks again of his death, and pays the temple tax with a coin from a fish’s mouth.
After six days — the same count as Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28 says about eight.
Transfigured renders μεταμορφόω (metamorphoō) — the verb behind “metamorphosis”. His face shone like the sun is only in this book.
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 all four Gospels. 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
Basis Renders the measure each book chose; Mark 9:3 already reads fuller, so the two stand apart.
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.
Moses and Elijah — this book names Moses first; Mark 9:4 names Elijah first.
Shelters (σκηναί, skēnai) are tents — the noun of the verb at John 1:14. If you wish — only this book has Peter ask.
Hear him — the same command as Mark 9:7, and the words of 3:17 are put back in full.
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 four Gospels, 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
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.
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.
Fell on their faces — only this book records the fear at this point.
Touched them — only this book has the touch here.
No one except Jesus alone — the same close as Mark 9:8.
Until the Son of Man is raised — the silence has an end named.
The transfiguration ends in a question about a scribal teaching, as at Mark 9:11.
Comes and will restore — the present and the future stand side by side.
They did not recognise him — this book says plainly what Mark 9:13 leaves open.
Then the disciples understood — only this book names John here.
Kneeling (γονυπετέω, gonypeteō) is a bending of the knees.
Moonstruck renders σεληνιάζομαι (selēniazomai), built on the word for moon — only this book uses it, here and at 4:24.
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 all four Gospels, 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
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.
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.
They were not able — the same complaint as Mark 9:18.
Twisted (διαστρέφω, diastrephō) is added here; Mark 9:19 has only “faithless”.
Rebuked it — the demon-word of 8:26, and only here is the healing said to be from that hour.
Privately — the disciples ask away from the crowd, as at Mark 9:28.
Little faith (ὀλιγοπιστία, oligopistia) — the noun, used once in the four Gospels. Verse 21 is not in the base text this edition follows.
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 all four Gospels; 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
Basis Follows the base text and lets the numbering skip — the same handling as not printing fasting at Mark 9:29.
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.
Is about to be handed over — the verb used of Judas, and of John at 4:12.
They were greatly grieved — this book records the grief; Mark 9:32 records the fear to ask.
Didrachmas is a Greek coin kept as sound — the temple tax. This scene stands only in this book.
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 the four Gospels — 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 four Gospels: 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
Basis Transliterating coins is fixed for the four Gospels (lepton, kodrantes, modios, saton, stadion); the translation does not compute the relation between the two.
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
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.
Customs and kensos are two different taxes, and this edition keeps them apart; kensos is a Latin word kept as sound.
Then the sons are free — the argument is left in that form, and the next verse sets it aside.
Stater is a Greek coin kept as sound, worth four drachmas — enough for two temple taxes.