Luke 9:19-20

9:19 They ¹  answered, ²  “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; ³  and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” ⁴  9:20 Then ⁵  he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter ⁶  answered, ⁷  “The Christ ⁸  of God.”

¹ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “And answering, they said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “They answered.”

³ sn The appearance of Elijah would mean that the end time had come. According to 2 Kgs 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah.

⁴ sn The phrase has risen could be understood to mean “has been resurrected,” but this is only a possible option, not a necessary one, since the phrase could merely mean that a figure had appeared on the scene who mirrored an earlier historical figure. Note that the three categories in the reply match the ones in Luke 9:7-8.

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁷ tn Grk “Peter answering, said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “Peter answered.”

⁸ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”