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10 [a](A)Then the disciples asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11 (B)He said in reply,[b] “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; 12 (C)but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.” 13 [c]Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

The Healing of a Boy with a Demon.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. 17:10 See notes on Mt 3:4; 16:14.
  2. 17:11–12 The preceding question and this answer may reflect later controversy with Jews who objected to the Christian claims for Jesus that Elijah had not yet come.
  3. 17:13 See Mt 11:14.
  4. 17:14–20 Matthew has greatly shortened the Marcan story (Mk 9:14–29). Leaving aside several details of the boy’s illness, he concentrates on the need for faith, not so much on the part of the boy’s father (as does Mark, for Matthew omits Mk 9:22b–24) but on that of his own disciples whose inability to drive out the demon is ascribed to their little faith (Mt 17:20).

23 (A)Now I am sending to you
    Elijah[a] the prophet,
Before the day of the Lord comes,
    the great and terrible day;

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Footnotes

  1. 3:23 Elijah: taken up in a whirlwind, according to 2 Kgs 2:11. Here his return seems to be foretold. A Jewish tradition interpreted this literally; the gospels saw Elijah in the person of John the Baptist (Mt 11:13–14; 17:10–13; Mk 9:9–13).

17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah[a] to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah: John is to be the messenger sent before Yahweh, as described in Mal 3:1–2. He is cast, moreover, in the role of the Old Testament fiery reformer, the prophet Elijah, who according to Mal 3:23 (Mal 4:5) is sent before “the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”