Matthew 17:3
New International Version
Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NASB 1995
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

NASB 1977
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.

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

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

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

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

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And Moses and Elijah appeared to them as they were speaking with him.

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

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

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

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them and were talking with Jesus.

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

International Standard Version
Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.

Literal Standard Version
and behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking together with Him.

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

New American Bible
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.

NET Bible
Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with him.

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

New Heart English Bible
And look, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.

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

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

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

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

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Transfiguration
2There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus. 4Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, I will put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”…

Cross References
Matthew 17:2
There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

Matthew 17:4
Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, I will put up three shelters--one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."


Treasury of Scripture

And, behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him.

behold.

Mark 9:4
And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

Luke 9:30,31
And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: …

Moses.

Matthew 11:13,14
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John…

Deuteronomy 18:18
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

Deuteronomy 34:5,6,10
So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD…

Elias.

Matthew 17:10-13
And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? …

1 Kings 17:1
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

1 Kings 18:36-40
And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word…

Elijah.

Luke 1:17
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Luke 9:33
And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.

Luke 16:16
The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

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Matthew 17
1. The transfiguration of Jesus.
14. He heals the boy with a demon,
22. foretells his own passion,
24. and pays tribute.














(3) Moses and Elias.--The identification of the forms which the disciples saw was, we may well believe, intuitive. If we accept the narrative as a whole, it is legitimate to assume that, in the state of consciousness to which they had been raised, they were capable of a spiritual illumination which would reveal to them who they were who were thus recognising their Master's work and doing homage to His majesty. There was, it is obvious, a singular fitness in each case. One was the great representative of the Law, which was a "school master" or "servant-tutor" (see Note on Galatians 3:24) leading men to Christ, the other of the whole goodly fellowship of the prophets. Of one it had been said that a "Prophet like unto him" should come in the latter days (Deuteronomy 18:18), to whom men should hearken; of the other, that he should come again to "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children" (Malachi 4:5). The close of the ministry of each was not after the "common death of all men." No man knew of the sepulchre of Moses (Deuteronomy 34:6), and Elijah had passed away in the chariots and horses of fire (2Kings 2:11). Both were associated in men's minds with the glory of the kingdom of the Christ. The Jerusalem Targum on Exodus 12 connects the coming of Moses with that of the Messiah. Another Jewish tradition predicts his appearance with that of Elijah. Their presence now was an attestation that their work was over, and that the Christ had come.

Talking with him.--St. Luke (Luke 9:31) adds the subject of their communing: "They spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." So far as the disciples then entered into the meaning of what they heard, or afterwards recalled it, it was a witness that the spirits of the lawgiver and the prophet accepted the sufferings and the death which had shaken the faith of the disciples as the necessary conditions of the Messianic kingdom. It is significant that the word for "decease" (exodos) reappears in this sense once only in the New Testament, and then in close connection with a reference to the Transfiguration (2Peter 1:15). . . .

Verse 3. - And, behold. The exclamation, thrice repeated (ver. 5), marks the suddenness and unexpectedness of the occurrence. They who now appeared were no delusive, imaginary figures, but real personages, objectively presented to the spectators, in such bodies as appertained to their condition. Moses and Elias. St. Luke adds, "who appeared in glory," radiant with the light which always accompanies heavenly visitors. Why these two saints were chosen to be present on this momentous occasion may be explained by various considerations. Both these worthies experienced something unparalleled in their departure from this life. Elijah was taken up to heaven without dying; Moses died, indeed, but he was buried by God in an unknown grave, and his body was under the especial care of Michael the archangel (see Jude 1:9), and we know not that it saw corruption. From the unseen world these were brought to do homage to the Messiah - Moses, a type of those blessed spirits who in Paradise await the final consummation, Elijah, a type of the saints who, after the resurrection, perfect in soul and body, shall enter into glory. Here were the representatives of the Law and the prophets, the principal supporters of the old covenant, honouring him who was introducing the new covenant, which was to fulfil and supersede the previous one. Spurious, degraded Judaism rejected Christ's claims; real, orthodox Judaism acknowledged him and reverenced him as the Christ foretold and fort, shadowed, "of whom Moses and the prophets did write" (John 1:45). Now, too, it was made manifest that Jesus was not Elias or one of the prophets, as some erroneously had supposed, but different from and superior to all; that he had power over life and death, and could bring whom he would from the unseen World; that the cross and Passion were not degrading, or proofs of weakness, but glorious and triumphant accomplishments of the will or God. The question is asked - How did Peter and the rest recognize the two heavenly visitants? There may have been something conventional in their garb or appearance, which at once identified them; or the apostles may have known them by spiritual intuition or special revelation; or they may have gathered their knowledge from the conversation which they overheard. Anyhow, it was necessary that the two should be recognized, otherwise their appearance would have lost its significance, and the confirmation which they were intended to afford would fail to be given. Is there here an intimation that in heaven the blessed will know each other, though they never met in the flesh - shall know even as they have been known? Talking with him. St. Luke tells us the subject of this mysterious dialogue - they "spoke of his decease (ἔξοδον, exodus, departure) which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." They conversed, not of the glory which was his before the world began, nor of the kingdom which he came to establish, but of his coming suffering and death, with their tremendous issues. At the very moment of this revelation of Divinity, the discourse is of humiliation and the cross. The apostles had been slow to understand the future that awaited their Master; here the great saints of the covenant bore their testimony to Christ's fulfilment of what had been prophesied and shadowed aforehand, how by the sufferings of his sacred humanity eternal glory should be won. So might the apostles be strengthened to look forward without apprehension or weak shrinking; for through the grave and gate of death lay the road to a joyful resurrection and celestial happiness.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Suddenly
Καὶ (Kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

Moses
Μωϋσῆς (Mōusēs)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3475: Or Moses, or Mouses of Hebrew origin; Moseus, Moses, or Mouses, the Hebrew lawgiver.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

Elijah
Ἠλίας (Ēlias)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2243: Elijah, the prophet. Of Hebrew origin; Helias, an Israelite.

appeared
ὤφθη (ōphthē)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 3708: Properly, to stare at, i.e. to discern clearly; by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear.

before them,
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

talking
συλλαλοῦντες (syllalountes)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4814: To talk with, discuss. From sun and laleo; to talk together, i.e. Converse.

with
μετ’ (met’)
Preposition
Strong's 3326: (a) gen: with, in company with, (b) acc: (1) behind, beyond, after, of place, (2) after, of time, with nouns, neut. of adjectives.

[Jesus].
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.


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NT Gospels: Matthew 17:3 Behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them (Matt. Mat Mt)
Matthew 17:2
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