When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown in terror.
Parallel translations
- WEB When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were very afraid.
- KJV And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
- NKJV And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.
- NASB When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.
- NLT The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
At the Father's voice from the cloud on the mount of transfiguration, the three disciples fell down in terror. It shows the right human response of awe before the manifest glory and word of God.
Overview
Having heard the Father declare Jesus his beloved Son and command 'Listen to him,' Peter, James, and John are overwhelmed and fall on their faces in fear. Such trembling before God's holiness is a consistent biblical pattern (Exodus 19, Isaiah 6). The scene confirms Jesus' divine sonship and points ahead to his glory beyond the cross.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Acts 26:14We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
- 2 Pet 1:18And we ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
- Judg 13:20When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.
- Acts 22:7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’
- Dan 10:7–9Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but a great terror fell upon them, and they ran and hid themselves.
- Judg 13:22“We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”
- Lev 9:24Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
- Ezek 3:23So I got up and went out to the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD was present there, like the glory I had seen by the River Kebar, and I fell facedown.
- Ezek 43:3The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar. I fell facedown,
- 1 Chr 21:16When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
- Dan 8:17As he came near to where I stood, I was terrified and fell facedown. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.”
- Dan 10:16–17And suddenly one with the likeness of a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and said to the one standing before me, “My lord, because of the vision, I am overcome with anguish, and I have no strength.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 17:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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