Matthew 17:19-27

17:19 Then the disciples came ¹  to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 17:20 He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, ²  if you have faith the size of ³  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ⁴  will be impossible for you.”

17:21 [[EMPTY]] ⁵ 

Second Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

17:22 When ⁶  they gathered together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. ⁷  17:23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they became greatly distressed.

The Temple Tax

17:24 After ⁸  they arrived in Capernaum, ⁹  the collectors of the temple tax ¹⁰  came to Peter and said, “Your teacher pays the double drachma tax, doesn’t he?” 17:25 He said, “Yes.” When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, ¹¹  “What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect tolls or taxes – from their sons ¹²  or from foreigners?” 17:26 After he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons ¹³  are free. 17:27 But so that we don’t offend them, go to the lake and throw out a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a four drachma coin. ¹⁴  Take that and give it to them for me and you.”

[17:19]  ¹ tn Grk “coming, the disciples said.” The participle προσελθόντες (proselqontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

[17:20]  ² tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[17:20]  ³ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:20]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[17:21]  ⁵ tc Many important mss (א* B Θ 0281 33 579 892* pc e ff¹ sy^s,c sa) do not include 17:21 “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” The verse is included in א² C D L W Ë^1,13 Ï lat, but is almost certainly not original. As B. M. Metzger notes, “Since there is no satisfactory reason why the passage, if originally present in Matthew, should have been omitted in a wide variety of witnesses, and since copyists frequently inserted material derived from another Gospel, it appears that most manuscripts have been assimilated to the parallel in Mk 9.29” (TCGNT 35). The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

[17:22]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[17:22]  ⁷ tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is considered by some to be used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NRSV “into human hands”; TEV, CEV “to people”). However, because this can be taken as a specific reference to the group responsible for Jesus’ arrest, where it is unlikely women were present (cf. Matt 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12), the word “men” has been retained in the translation. There may also be a slight wordplay with “the Son of Man” earlier in the verse.

[17:24]  ⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[17:24]  ⁹ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 C3; Map3 B2.

[17:24]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Collectors of the double drachma.” This is a case of metonymy, where the coin formerly used to pay the tax (the double drachma coin, or δίδραχμον [didracmon]) was put for the tax itself (cf. BDAG 241 s.v.). Even though this coin was no longer in circulation in NT times and other coins were used to pay the tax, the name for the coin was still used to refer to the tax itself.

[17:25]  ¹¹ tn Grk “spoke first to him, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[17:25]  ¹² sn The phrase their sons may mean “their citizens,” but the term “sons” has been retained here in order to preserve the implicit comparison between the Father and his Son, Jesus.

[17:26]  ¹³ sn See the note on the phrase their sons in the previous verse.

[17:27]  ¹⁴ sn The four drachma coin was a stater (στατήρ, stathr), a silver coin worth four drachmas. One drachma was equivalent to one denarius, the standard pay for a day’s labor (L&N 6.80).