Matthew 17

¹ Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a highmountain by themselves.

² There in their presence he was transfigured: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became asdazzling as light.

³ And suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them; they were talking with him.

⁴ Then Peter spoke to Jesus. 'Lord,' he said, 'it is wonderful for us to be here; if you want me to, I willmake three shelters here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.'

⁵ He was stil speaking when suddenly a bright cloud covered them with shadow, and suddenly from thecloud there came a voice which said, 'This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to him.'

⁶ When they heard this, the disciples fel on their faces, overcome with fear.

⁷ But Jesus came up and touched them, saying, 'Stand up, do not be afraid.'

⁸ And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but Jesus.

⁹ As they came down from the mountain Jesus gave them this order, 'Tel no one about this vision untilthe Son of man has risen from the dead.'

¹⁰ And the disciples put this question to him, 'Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?'

¹¹ He replied, 'Elijah is indeed coming, and he wil set everything right again;

¹² however, I tel you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him but treated him asthey pleased; and the Son of man wil suffer similarly at their hands.'

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

¹⁴ As they were rejoining the crowd a man came up to him and went down on his knees before him.

¹⁵ 'Lord,' he said, 'take pity on my son: he is demented and in a wretched state; he is always fal ing intofire and into water.

¹⁶ I took him to your disciples and they were unable to cure him.'

¹⁷ In reply, Jesus said, 'Faithless and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you? Howmuch longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.'

¹⁸ And when Jesus rebuked it the devil came out of the boy, who was cured from that moment.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came privately to Jesus. 'Why were we unable to drive it out?' they asked.

²⁰ He answered, 'Because you have so little faith. In truth I tel you, if your faith is the size of a mustardseed you wil say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it wil move; nothing will be impossible foryou.'

²¹

²² When they were together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, 'The Son of man is going to be delivered intothe power of men;

²³ they will put him to death, and on the third day he wil be raised up again.' And a great sadness cameover them.

²⁴ When they reached Capernaum, the col ectors of the half-shekel came to Peter and said, 'Does yourmaster not pay the half-shekel?'

²⁵ 'Yes,' he replied, and went into the house. But before he could speak, Jesus said, 'Simon, what isyour opinion? From whom do earthly kings take tol or tribute? From their sons or from foreigners?'

²⁶ And when he replied, 'From foreigners,' Jesus said, 'Well then, the sons are exempt.

²⁷ However, so that we shal not be the downfal of others, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the firstfish that rises, open its mouth and there you wil find a shekel; take it and give it to them for me and for yourself.'