Luke 9:30

9:30 Then ¹  two men, Moses and Elijah, ²  began talking with him. ³ 

Luke 9:35

9:35 Then ⁴  a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. ⁵  Listen to him!” ⁶ 

[9:30]  ¹ tn Grk “And behold.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[9:30]  ² sn Commentators and scholars discuss why Moses and Elijah are present. The most likely explanation is that Moses represents the prophetic office (Acts 3:18-22) and Elijah pictures the presence of the last days (Mal 4:5-6), the prophet of the eschaton (the end times).

[9:30]  ³ tn Grk “two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah.” The relative clause has been simplified to an appositive and transposed in keeping with contemporary English style.

[9:35]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:35]  ⁵ tc Most mss, especially the later ones, have ἀγαπητός (agaphto", “the one I love”; A C* W ˹³ 33 Ï it), or ἀγαπητὸς ἐν ᾧ (ἠ)υδόκησα (agaphto" en |w (h)udokhsa, “the one I love, in whom I am well pleased”; C³ D Ψ pc) here, instead of ἐκλελεγμένος (eklelegmeno", “the Chosen One”), but these variants are probably assimilations to Matt 17:5 and Mark 9:7. The text behind the translation also enjoys excellent support from Ì^45,75 א B L Ξ [phone] pc co.

[9:35]  ⁶ sn The expression listen to him comes from Deut 18:15 and makes two points: 1) Jesus is a prophet like Moses, a leader-prophet, and 2) they have much yet to learn from him.