Luke 9:18-36

New International Version

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah^(A)^(B)

¹⁸Once when Jesus was praying^(C) in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

¹⁹They replied, “Some say John the Baptist;^(D) others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”^(E)

²⁰“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”^(F)

Jesus Predicts His Death

²¹Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.^(G) ²²And he said, “The Son of Man^(H) must suffer many things^(I) and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law,^(J) and he must be killed^(K) and on the third day^(L) be raised to life.”^(M)

²³Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.^(N) ²⁴For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.^(O) ²⁵What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ²⁶Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them^(P) when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.^(Q)

²⁷“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration^(R)

²⁸About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James^(S) with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.^(T) ²⁹As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. ³⁰Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. ³¹They spoke about his departure,^[a]^(U) which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. ³²Peter and his companions were very sleepy,^(V) but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. ³³As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master,^(W) it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

³⁴While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen;^(X) listen to him.”^(Y) ³⁶When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.^(Z)