⚡WEB · Mark 9:13
What does Mark 9:13 mean?
"But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him.”"
— Mark 9:13 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the “rising from the dead” meant.
They asked him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
He said to them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. How is it written about the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be despised?
But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him.”
Coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them.
Immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, greeted him.
He asked the scribes, “What are you asking them?”
Explanation
Mark 9:13 comes right after Jesus, Peter, James, and John descend from the mountain of Transfiguration, where Moses and Elijah had appeared alongside a glorified Jesus. As they walk down, the disciples ask Jesus why the scribes teach that Elijah must come before the Messiah arrives, referencing the prophecy in Malachi 4:5-6. Jesus answers that Elijah has, in fact, already come — and then adds this sobering statement: people did to him whatever they wanted, just as Scripture said would happen. Though Mark doesn't name him explicitly in this verse, the surrounding context (and Matthew 17:13, which records the same event) makes clear Jesus is speaking of John the Baptist, who came "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17) and was mistreated and ultimately executed by Herod.
The Gospel of Mark
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