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26 For whoever is ashamed[a] of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person[b] when he comes in his glory and in the glory[c] of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you most certainly,[d] there are some standing here who will not[e] experience[f] death before they see the kingdom of God.”[g]

The Transfiguration

28 Now[h] about eight days[i] after these sayings, Jesus[j] took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray.

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 9:26 sn How one responds now to Jesus and his teaching is a reflection of how Jesus, as the Son of Man who judges, will respond then in the final judgment.
  2. Luke 9:26 tn This pronoun (τοῦτον, touton) is in emphatic position in its own clause in the Greek text: “of that person the Son of Man will be ashamed…”
  3. Luke 9:26 tn Grk “in the glory of him and of the Father and of the holy angels.” “Glory” is repeated here in the translation for clarity and smoothness because the literal phrase is unacceptably awkward in contemporary English.
  4. Luke 9:27 tn Grk “I tell you truly” (λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς, legō de humin alēthōs).
  5. Luke 9:27 tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mē) is the strongest possible.
  6. Luke 9:27 tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).
  7. Luke 9:27 sn The meaning of the statement that some will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God is clear at one level, harder at another. Jesus predicts some will experience the kingdom before they die. When does this happen? (1) An initial fulfillment is the next event, the transfiguration. (2) It is also possible in Luke’s understanding that all but Judas experience the initial fulfillment of the coming of God’s presence and rule in the work of Acts 2. In either case, the “kingdom of God” referred to here would be the initial rather than the final phase.
  8. Luke 9:28 tn Grk “Now it happened that about.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
  9. Luke 9:28 tn Matt 17:1 and Mark 9:2 specify the interval more exactly, saying it was the sixth day. Luke uses ὡσεί (hōsei, “about”) to give an approximate reference.
  10. Luke 9:28 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.