Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)
Jesus is transfigured on the mountain
9:28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.
9:29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.
9:30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
9:31They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.
9:32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
9:33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying.
9:34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
9:35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
9:36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
9:37On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
9:38Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.
9:39Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him.
9:40I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
9:41Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
9:42While he was being brought forward, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
9:43aAnd all were astounded at the greatness of God.
[28]᾿Εγένετο δὲ μετὰ τοὺς λόγους τούτους ὡσεὶ ἡμέραι ὀκτὼ καὶ παραλαβὼν τὸν Πέτρον καὶ ᾿Ιωάννην καὶ ᾿Ιάκωβον ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος προσεύξασθαι.
[29] καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ προσεύχεσθαι αὐτὸν τὸ εἶδος τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἕτερον καὶ ὁ ἱματισμὸς αὐτοῦ λευκὸς ἐξαστράπτων.
[30]καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνδρες δύο συνελάλουν αὐτῷ, οἵτινες ἦσαν Μωϋσῆς καὶ ᾿Ηλίας,
[31]οἳ ὀφθέντες ἐν δόξῃ ἔλεγον τὴν ἔξοδον αὐτοῦ ἣν ἔμελλε πληροῦν ἐν ῾Ιερουσαλήμ.
[32]ὁ δὲ Πέτρος καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ ἦσαν βεβαρημένοι ὕπνῳ· διαγρηγορήσαντες δὲ εἶδον τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς δύο ἄνδρας τοὺς συνεστῶτας αὐτῷ.
[33]καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ διαχωρίζεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ εἶπεν ὁ Πέτρος πρὸς τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν· ἐπιστάτα, καλόν ἐστιν ἡμᾶς ὧδε εἶναι· καὶ ποιήσωμεν σκηνὰς τρεῖς, μίαν σοὶ καὶ μίαν Μωϋσεῖ καὶ μίαν ᾿Ηλίᾳ, μὴ εἰδὼς ὃ λέγει.
[34]ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ἐγένετο νεφέλη καὶ ἐπεσκίασεν αὐτούς· ἐφοβήθησαν δὲ ἐν τῷ εἰσελθεῖν ἐκείνους εἰς τὴν νεφέλην·
[35]καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τῆς νεφέλης λέγουσα· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός· αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε.
[36]καὶ ἐν τῷ γενέσθαι τὴν φωνὴν εὑρέθη ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς μόνος. καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐσίγησαν καὶ οὐδενὶ ἀπήγγειλαν ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις οὐδὲν ὧν ἑωράκασιν.
[37]᾿Εγένετο δὲ ἐν τῇ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ κατελθόντων αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους συνήντησεν αὐτῷ ὄχλος πολύς.
[38]καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου ἀνεβόησε λέγων· διδάσκαλε, δέομαί σου, ἐπίβλεψον ἐπὶ τὸν υἱόν μου, ὅτι μονογενής μοί ἐστι·
[39]καὶ ἰδοὺ πνεῦμα λαμβάνει αὐτόν, καὶ ἐξαίφνης κράζει καὶ σπαράσσει αὐτὸν μετὰ ἀφροῦ, καὶ μόγις ἀποχωρεῖ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ συντρῖβον αὐτόν·
[40]καὶ ἐδεήθην τῶν μαθητῶν σου ἵνα ἐκβάλωσιν αὐτό, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν.
[41]ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν· ὦ γενεὰ ἄπιστος καὶ διεστραμμένη, ἕως πότε ἔσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ ἀνέξομαι ὑμῶν;
[42]ἔτι δὲ προσερχομένου αὐτοῦ ἔρρηξεν αὐτὸν τὸ δαιμόνιον καὶ συνεσπάραξεν· ἐπετίμησε δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ, καὶ ἰάσατο τὸν παῖδα καὶ ἀπέδωκεν αὐτὸν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ.
[43]ἐξεπλήσσοντο δὲ πάντες ἐπὶ τῇ μεγαλειότητι τοῦ Θεοῦ.
Comments
Τhe Transfiguration passage is rife with verbs of vision, appearance, and sound as might be expected. What is noteworthy is the stress on simultaneous action, e.g., in v. 29, ‘while/ as he was praying, the aspect of his face became of another kind’, etc. Cf. vv. 33. 34. and 36.
[29] καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ προσεύχεσθαι αὐτὸν τὸ εἶδος τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἕτερον: the core of the sentence is ἐγένετο… ἕτερον, ‘it became different’. ἕτερος, ἑτέρα, ἕτερον, ‘of another kind, different’ ( Homer & cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., III); cf. Engl. heterogeneous.
τὸ εἶδος: related to εἶδον, ‘I saw’ (aor. ὁράω) < * weid- (cf. Latin video, ‘I see’, Engl. visible). εἶδος, ‘that which is seen, aspect, appearance, form’.
τοῦ προσώπου: πρόσωπον, ‘face’ (already in Homer who always uses the pl.: LSJ s.v., I.1).
Instead of ἐγένετο… ἕτερον St Luke could have used the pass. μετεμορφώθη (used by Mt 17:2 & Mk 9:2) < μεταμορφόομαι/ μεταμορφοῦμαι, ‘I am metamorphosed’, but the pass. form often refers to transformation into a beast, Apollo, a fish, etc. (LSJ s.v. μεταμορφόω). Luke thus avoids a vb with strong pagan associations. (Interestingly in the Greek Orthodox Church the feast of the Transfiguration is known as the Feast of the Metamorphosis.)
ἐν τῷ προσεύχεσθαι αὐτὸν: ἐν τῷ (‘in the’) + inf. will be three more times in the pericope (vv. 33, 34, 36) to express contemporaneous time (‘while’) (Brooks & Winberg, Syntax of NT Gk, p. 124).
[30] καὶ ἰδοὺ: the combination καὶ + ἰδοὺ (‘behold! look!’) is repeated in vv. 38 and 39, marks a transition to something new in the narrative (Grimm’s Lexicon s.v., ἰδοὺ). ἰδοὺ, a deictic particle pointing to something out of the ordinary, has been discussed in previous comments in this blog.
[31] τὴν ἔξοδον: ‘exit, departure’.
ἔμελλε πληροῦν: μέλλω + pres. inf., as in cl. Gk, refers to an action or suffering which is fixed by ‘necessity or divine appointment’ (Grimm, 2c). Thus ἔμελλε, ‘was about to’ really means ‘had to’.
[33]ἐπιστάτα: voc. of ἐπιστάτης, lit. ‘supervisor’; ‘Master’ (EDNT s.v.). (LSJ II.2. s.v. renders the term as ‘Rabbi’.) Only Luke uses the term and always in the voc.
[35] αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε: ἀκούω, c. gen., ‘listen to, give ear’ (already in Homer: LSJ s.v., II.1); also in fig. sense in cl. Gk. Here, ‘hear and obey’ ( Grimm, 2 γ).
[40] καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν: the conjunction καὶ is contrastive (‘but’).
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