When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.
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.
- BSB When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown in terror.
- NKJV And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.
- 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 26:14When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
- 2 Pet 1:18We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
- Judg 13:20For when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, Yahweh’s angel ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife watched; and they fell on their faces to the ground.
- Acts 22:7I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
- Dan 10:7–9I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; for the men who were with me didn’t see the vision; but a great quaking fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves.
- Judg 13:22Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”
- Lev 9:24Fire came out from before Yahweh, and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.
- Ezek 3:23Then I arose, and went out into the plain: and behold, Yahweh’s glory stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.
- Ezek 43:3It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.
- 1 Chr 21:16David lifted up his eyes, and saw Yahweh’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
- Dan 8:17So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on my face: but he said to me, Understand, son of man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end.
- Dan 10:16–17Behold, one in the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spoke and said to him who stood before me, my lord, by reason of the vision my sorrows are turned on me, and I retain 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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