Matthew 17 - 19 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Transfiguration

17And ^asix days later Jesus *brought with Him ^bPeter and James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. ²And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. ³And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. ⁴And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, ^aI will make three ¹booths here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, ^aa voice out of the cloud said, “^bThis is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” ⁶And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. ⁷And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and ^ado not be afraid.” ⁸And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

⁹^aAnd as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “^bTell the vision to no one until ^cthe Son of Man has ^drisen from the dead.” ¹⁰And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that ^aElijah must come first?” ¹¹And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; ¹²but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did ¹to him whatever they wished. So also ^athe Son of Man is going to suffer ²at their hands.” ¹³Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

Jesus Casts Out a Demon

¹⁴^aAnd when they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, ¹⁵“¹Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has ²^,^aseizures and suffers terribly; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. ¹⁶“And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said, “O you unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured ¹at once.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁰And He *said to them, “Because of your little faith; for truly I say to you, ^aif you have faith ¹the size of ^ba mustard seed, you will say to ^cthis mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and ^dnothing will be impossible to you. ²¹¹[“^aBut this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”]

²²^aAnd while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be ¹delivered into the hands of men; ²³and ^athey will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

The Temple Tax

²⁴Now when they came to Capernaum, those who collected ^athe ¹two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay ^bthe ²two-drachma tax?” ²⁵He *said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect ^atolls or ^btaxes, from their sons or from strangers?” ²⁶And when Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are ¹exempt. ²⁷“However, so that we do not ¹^,^aoffend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a ²stater. Take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

Who Is Greatest in Heaven?

18^aAt that ¹time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “^bWho then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ²And He called a child to Himself and set him ¹before them, ³and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you ¹are converted and ^abecome like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴“Whoever therefore will humble himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵“And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; ⁶but ^awhoever ^bcauses one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a ¹heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Stumbling Blocks

⁷“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For ^ait is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; nevertheless, woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

⁸“^aAnd if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. ⁹“^aAnd if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into the ¹^,^bfiery hell.

¹⁰“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that ^atheir angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. ¹¹¹[“^aFor the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

¹²“What do you think? ^aIf any man has one hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? ¹³“And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. ¹⁴“In this way, it is not the will ¹of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

If Your Brother Sins

¹⁵“^aNow if your brother sins¹, go and ²show him his fault, between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. ¹⁶“But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that ^aby the mouth of two or three witnesses every ¹fact may be confirmed. ¹⁷“And if he refuses to listen to them, ^atell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^blet him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector. ¹⁸“Truly I say to you, ^awhatever you ¹bind on earth ²shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you ³loose on earth ⁴shall have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, ^ait shall be done for them ¹by My Father who is in heaven. ²⁰“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, ^aI am there in their midst.”

Forgiveness

²¹Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, ^ahow often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to ^bseven times?” ²²Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to ^aseventy times seven.

²³“For this reason ^athe kingdom of heaven ¹may be compared to a king who wished to ^bsettle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴“When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand ¹talents was brought to him. ²⁵“But since he ¹^,^adid not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him ^bto be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. ²⁶“Therefore, the slave fell to the ground and ^awas prostrating himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ ²⁷“And feeling compassion, the lord of that slave released him and ^aforgave him the ¹debt. ²⁸“But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred ¹denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ ²⁹“So, his fellow slave fell to the ground and was pleading with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ ³⁰“But he was unwilling ¹and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. ³¹“So, when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. ³²“Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³‘^aShould you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴“And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. ³⁵“^aMy heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your hearts.”

Teaching About Divorce

19¹^,^aNow it happened that when Jesus had finished these words, He departed from Galilee and ^bcame into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; ²and ¹large crowds followed Him, and ^aHe healed them there.

³And some Pharisees came to ¹Jesus, testing Him and saying, “^aIs it lawful for a man to ²divorce his wife for any reason at all?” ⁴And He answered and said, “Have you not read ^athat He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵and said, ‘^aFor this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ^bthe two shall become one flesh’? ⁶“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” ⁷They *said to Him, “^aWhy then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” ⁸He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to ¹divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. ⁹“And I say to you, ^awhoever ¹divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman ²commits adultery³.”

¹⁰The disciples *said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹But He said to them, “^aNot all men can accept this statement, but ^bonly those to whom it has been given. ¹²“For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”

Jesus Blesses Children

¹³^aThen some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴But Jesus said, “¹^,^aLet the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for ^bthe kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵And after laying His hands on them, He departed from there.

The Rich Young Ruler

¹⁶^aAnd behold, someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have ^beternal life?” ¹⁷And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but ^aif you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸Then he *said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “^aYou shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; ¹⁹^aHonor your father and mother; and ^bYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁰The young man *said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” ²¹Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be ¹complete, go and ^asell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have ^btreasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²²But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

²³And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, ^ait is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴“And again I say to you, ^ait is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁵And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁶And looking at them Jesus said to them, “^aWith people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Many Who Are First Will Be Last

²⁷Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” ²⁸And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when ^athe Son of Man will sit on ¹His glorious throne, ^byou also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹“And ^aeveryone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother ¹or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive ²one hundred times as much, and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰“^aBut many who are first will be last; and the last, first.