Matthew 17:3

New American Standard Bible

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

King James Version (1611)
And behold, there appeared vnto them Moses, and Elias, talking with him.

King James Version
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

English Standard Version
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

New Century Version
Then Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.

Amplified Bible
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And beholde, there appeared vnto them Moses, and Elias, talking with him.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

Legacy Standard Bible
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

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

Contemporary English Version
All at once Moses and Elijah were there talking with Jesus.

Complete Jewish Bible
Then they looked and saw Moshe and Eliyahu speaking with him.

Darby Translation
and lo, Moses and Elias appeared to them talking with him.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then two men were there, talking with him. They were Moses and Elijah.

George Lamsa Translation
And there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, as they were talking with him.

Good News Translation
Then the three disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus.

Lexham English Bible
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

Literal Translation
And, behold! Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

American Standard Version
And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

Bible in Basic English
And Moses and Elijah came before their eyes, talking with him.

Hebrew Names Version
Behold, there appeared to them Moshe and Eliyah talking with him.

International Standard Version
Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.him">[fn]

Etheridge Translation
And there were seen with them Musha and Elia talking with him.

Murdock Translation
And there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, in conversation with him.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And beholde, there appeared vnto them, Moyses, and Elias talkyng with hym.

English Revised Version
And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

World English Bible
Behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

Weymouth's New Testament
And suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them conversing with Him.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And lo! Moises and Elie apperiden to hem, and spaken with hym.

Update Bible Version
And look, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

Webster's Bible Translation
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

New English Translation
Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with him.

New King James Version
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

New Living Translation
Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus.

New Life Bible
Moses and Elijah were seen talking with Jesus.

New Revised Standard
Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And lo! there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, conversing with him.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him.

Revised Standard Version
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Eli'jah, talking with him.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And beholde ther appered vnto the Moses and Helyas talkinge with him.

Young's Literal Translation
and lo, appear to them did Moses and Elijah, talking together with him.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And beholde, there appeared vnto the Moses and Elias talkinge with him.

Mace New Testament (1729)
and presently they saw Moses and Elias conversing with him.

Simplified Cowboy Version
All of a sudden, two great cowboys from the past, Moses and Elijah, stood there with them, visitin' with Jesus.

Contextual Overview

¹ Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James, and his brother John, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. ² And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. ³ And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.⁴ Peter responded and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If You want, I will make three tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." ⁵ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!" ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. ⁷ And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid." ⁸ And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone. ⁹ When they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead." ¹⁰ And His disciples asked Him, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

behold: Mark 9:4, Luke 9:30, Luke 9:31

Moses: Matthew 11:13, Matthew 11:14, Deuteronomy 18:18, Deuteronomy 34:5, Deuteronomy 34:6, Deuteronomy 34:10, Luke 24:27, Luke 24:44, John 1:17, John 5:45-47, 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, Hebrews 3:1-6

Elias: Matthew 17:10-13, 1 Kings 17:1, 1 Kings 18:36-40, 2 Kings 2:11-14, Malachi 4:5, Elijah, Luke 1:17, Luke 9:33, Luke 16:16

Reciprocal: Acts 7:37 - him 2 Peter 1:17 - there came

Cross-References

Genesis 17:17
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?"

Genesis 17:18
And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!"

Genesis 17:23
Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, as God had said to him.

Genesis 17:24
Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

Exodus 3:6
And He said, "I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Numbers 14:5
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

Numbers 16:22
But they fell on their faces and said, "God, the God of the spirits of humanity, when one person sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?"

Numbers 16:45
"Get away from among this congregation so that I may consume them instantly." Then they fell on their faces.

Joshua 5:14
He said, "No; rather I have come now as captain of the army of the LORD." And Joshua fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?"

Judges 13:20
For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And behold there appeared unto them,.... The disciples:

Moses and Elias; Moses the giver of the law, and Elias one of the chief of the prophets: one of them had been dead near a thousand and five hundred years, and the other had been caught up to heaven, about nine hundred years before this. The Jews sometimes speak of these two as together. They say c,

"that the Shekinah never descends below, but משה ואליהו, "Moses and Elias" ascend above.''

Yea, they expect that these two will come together in future time; for so they represent d a God saying to Moses;

"Moses, as thou hast given thy life for them (the Israelites) in this world, so in time to come (the days of the Messiah) when I shall bring Elias the prophet, כאחת

שניכם באין, "you two shall come together".''

Now they came. Luke says, they appeared "in glory": in glorious bodies, in a glory upon their bodies; like, though inferior, to the glorious body of Christ, now transfigured: that they appeared in their own real bodies, no doubt need be made; about the body of Elijah, or Elias, there is no difficulty; since he was carried soul and body to heaven, he died not, but was changed; and has ever since remained in a glorious body, in which he doubtless now appeared: and why this should not be the case of Moses, or why he should appear in another body, and not his own, I see not; for though he died, yet he was buried by the Lord, and no man ever knew the place of his sepulchre; and there was a dispute about his body, between Michael and the devil, all which are uncommon circumstances: so that it might be, that his body was, quickly after his death, raised and restored to him; or at this time, as a pledge of the resurrection of the dead, as Christ's transfiguration was of his glory. The Jews have a notion that Moses is not dead, but is ascended, and stands and ministers to God, in the highest heavens e: the appearance of these two with Christ, was to show, that Christ is the end of the law and prophets; that there is an entire agreement between him and them, and that they have their full accomplishment in him; and also shows, that he was neither Elias, nor any of the prophets, as some took him to be; since he was distinct from them, and the chief and more glorious than any of them. If it should be asked; how came the disciples to know these two to be Moses and Elias, since they never saw them before, nor could have any statues or pictures of them, these being not allowed among the Jews; nor do the accounts of them in Scripture seem to be sufficient to direct them to such a thought; especially, since by their glorification, they must be greatly altered: it may be replied, they knew them, either by immediate divine revelation, or by the discourse that passed between them and Christ; for it follows,

talking with him. The Jews often speak of the appearance of Elias to their doctors, and of his conversing with them, and teaching them. Whether this is done with design to lessen the glory of this appearance, I will not say; however, they cannot reasonably object to the probability of this account, since they make it to be so frequent among themselves; though they look upon it as an high favour, and that such are holy good men, that are indulged with it, take an instance or two: thus they say f of a certain person,

"Lo! the pious man, whom Elias used משתעי בהדיה, "to converse with".''

And elsewhere it is said g,

"R. Phineas and R. Mari, the sons of R. Chasda, were godly men, ואליהו מדבר עמהם, "and Elias was talking with them", and they were priests.''

What Moses and Elias were talking with our Lord about, is expressed by Luke, :-.

c T. Bab. Succab, fol. 5. 1. d Debarim Rabba, sect. 3. fol. 239. 2. e T. Bab. Sota, fol. 13. 2. Maimon. praefat. ad Seder Zeraim in Talmud. fol. 86. 4. f T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 7. 2. g Juchasin, fol. 101. 1. Vid. fol. 79. 1. & 118. 2. & 13. 132. 1. & T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 106. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias - Moses, a distinguished servant of God, by whom the law was given, and whose institutions typified the Messiah. It was particularly proper that he should appear, when his prophecies and types were about to be fulfilled, and the rites which he had instituted were about to be done away. Elias, or Elijah, a distinguished prophet, taken to heaven without seeing death. See 2 Kings 2:11. Elijah had been honored eminently by being thus translated, and still more by being made the model of the forerunner of the Messiah, Malachi 4:5; Luke 1:17; Matthew 11:14. They appeared “in glory” Luke 9:31; i. e., as they are in heaven with the glory which the redeemed have there.

Talking with him - Luke Luke 9:31 informs us that they conversed about “his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” To redeemed spirits that death was an object of intense interest. By faith in that death they had been saved; and now that the Redeemer of mankind was about to die, it is no wonder that this was the burden of his and their thoughts.

Luke adds Luke 9:32 that “Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep.” It is not improbable that this was in the night; that Jesus was engaged in prayer; and that he had permitted his weary followers to compose themselves to rest. It was after they were awaked that they saw this vision. Probably the sudden splendor, the bright shining aroused them from sleep.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 17:3. Moses and Elias — Elijah came from heaven in the same body which he had upon earth, for he was translated, and did not see death, 2 Kings 2:11. And the body of Moses was probably raised again, as a pledge of the resurrection; and as Christ is to come to judge the quick and the dead, for we shall not all die, but all shall be changed, 1 Corinthians 15:51, he probably gave the full representation of this in the person of Moses, who died, and was thus raised to life, (or appeared now as he shall appear when raised from the dead in the last day), and in the person of Elijah, who never tasted death. Both their bodies exhibit the same appearance, to show that the bodies of glorified saints are the same, whether the person had been translated, or whether he had died. It was a constant and prevalent tradition among the Jews, that both Moses and Elijah should appear in the times of the Messiah, and to this very tradition the disciples refer, Matthew 17:10.

We may conceive that the law in the person of Moses, the great Jewish legislator, and the prophets in the person of Elijah, the chief of the prophets, came now to do homage to Jesus Christ, and to render up their authority into his hands; as he was the END of the law, and the grand subject of the predictions of the prophets. This appears more particularly from what St. Luke says, Luke 9:31, that Moses and Elijah conversed with our Lord on his death, which he was about to accomplish, (πληρουν to fulfil,) because in it, all the rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the law, as well as the predictions of the prophets, were fulfilled.