5 Or, was past.

a The tradition which places the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor is beyond question false.

b Probably not long before the feast of tabernacles (near end of September) and Peter may have meant that they celebrate the feast on the mountains instead of going to Jerusalem.

c See [§ 24] for similar language at the Baptism of Jesus.

§ 86. THE PUZZLE OF THE THREE DISCIPLES ABOUT THE RESURRECTION AND ABOUT ELIJAH ON THEIR WAY DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

Mark 9:9-13Matt. 17:9-13Luke 9:36
9 And as they were
coming down from
the mountain, he
charged them that
they should tell no
man what things
they had seen, save
when the Son of man
should have risen
again from the dead.
10 And they kept the
saying, questioning
among themselves
what the rising again
from the dead should
mean. 11 And they
asked him, saying,
1The scribes say that
Elijah must first come.
12 And he said unto
them, Elijah indeed
cometh first, and
restoreth all things:
and how is it written
of the Son of man,
that he should suffer
many things and be
set at nought? 13 But
I say unto you, that
Elijah is come, and
they have also done
unto him whatsoever
they listed, even as it
is written of him.
9 And as they were
coming down from
the mountain, Jesus
commanded them,
saying, Tell the vision
to no man, until
the Son of man be
risen from the dead.
10 And his disciples
asked him, saying,
Why then say the
scribes that Elijah
must first come [see
Mal. 4:5-6
]? 11 And
he answered and said,
Elijah indeed cometh,
and shall restore all
things: 12 but I say
unto you, that Elijah is
come already,a and
they knew him not,
but did unto him
whatsoever they listed
[see 1 Kings 19:2,
10
]. Even so shall the
Son of man also suffer
of them. 13 Then
understood the
disciples that he spake
unto them of John the
Baptist.

36 And
they held their peace,
and told no man in
those days any of the
things which they had
seen.

1 Or, How is it that the scribes say ... come?

a The Baptist's disclaimer about being Elijah ([John 1:21]) means only that he was not Elijah in person come back to earth according to popular expectation.