Chapter 17

¹Six days after this, Jesus took Peter and James and his brother John, and led them up on a high mountain, by themselves. ²And his appearance underwent a change in their presence and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. ³And Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. ⁴And Peter spoke, and said to Jesus,

“Master, how good it is that we are here! If you wish, I will make three huts here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵As he spoke a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said,

“This is my Son, my Beloved. He is my Chosen. Listen to him!”

⁶When the disciples heard it, they were dreadfully frightened and fell upon their faces. ⁷And Jesus came and touched them, and said,

“Get up and do not be afraid.”

⁸When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus himself. ⁹And as they were going down the mountain, Jesus cautioned them, saying,

“Do not tell anyone of the vision you have seen until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

¹⁰The disciples asked him,

“Then why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?”

¹¹He answered,

“Elijah does come and is to reform everything, ¹²but I tell you, Elijah has come already, and they would not recognize him, but treated him just as they pleased. It is in just that way that the Son of Man is going to be treated by them!”

¹³Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

¹⁴When they came to the people again, a man came up to him and fell on his knees, saying,

¹⁵“Master, take pity on my son, for he has epilepsy, and is very wretched; he often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶And I brought him to your disciples and they have not been able to cure him.”

¹⁷Jesus answered,

“O you unbelieving, obstinate people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me!”

¹⁸And Jesus reproved the demon and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was cured. ¹⁹Afterward, when he was alone, the disciples went to Jesus and said to him,

“Why could we not drive it out?”

²⁰He said to them,

“Because you have so little faith. For I tell you, if you have faith the size of a grain of mustard, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here over to there!’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

²²As they were going about in Galilee, Jesus said to them,

“The Son of Man is going to be handed over to men, ²³and they will kill him, but on the third day he will be raised to life again.” And they were greatly distressed.

²⁴When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple-tax came and said to Peter,

“Does not your Master pay the temple-tax?”

²⁵He said,

“Yes.”

But when he went home, Jesus spoke of it first and said,

“What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect duties and taxes? From their own people, or from aliens?”

²⁶He said,

“From aliens.”

Jesus said to him,

“Then their own people are exempt. ²⁷But rather than give offense to them, go down to the sea and throw in a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, open its mouth and you will find in it a dollar. Take that and pay the tax for us both.”