Mark 9:11

Mark 9:11, in plain English

The disciples asked, 'Why do the religious teachers say Elijah has to come before the Messiah?' They were trying to fit the puzzle pieces together.

Why it's here

They'd just seen Elijah on the mountain, and they knew the prophecy said Elijah would come first. They were trying to understand how it all connected.

Who's speaking

The disciples bring a genuine theological question to Jesus.

Where it sits in the story

After seeing Elijah appear and disappear, the disciples had questions. The prophecy said Elijah comes first — so what did that mean for Jesus and His mission?

The scholarly reading

The question about Elijah coming 'first' (proton) reflects Malachi 4:5-6, which promised Elijah's return before the 'great and dreadful day of the Lord.' The Transfiguration appearance of Elijah intensified this question.

Language and setting

Jewish eschatological expectation required Elijah's return as a precursor to the Messiah. Having just seen Elijah, the disciples wonder about the scribal teaching's relationship to current events.

Voice

The disciples ask Jesus a theological question about prophetic sequence.

Significance

Having just seen Elijah on the mountain, the disciples raise the obvious question: if Elijah must come first to prepare for the Messiah, how does this fit with what they've witnessed?

9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus admonished them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

10So they kept this matter to themselves, discussing what it meant to rise from the dead.

11And they asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

12He replied, “Elijah does indeed come first, and he restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected?

13But I tell you that Elijah has indeed come, and they have done to him whatever they wished, just as it is written about him.”

Read all of Mark 9 — Dazzling glory on the mountaintop gives way to a demon-possessed boy at the bottom. The disciples can't handle either scene.