Bible Strands
Matthew 16:21
From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to His disciples immediately after Peter's confession of His identity (v.16) and His command of silence (v.20). The moment is a pivot from who He is to what He must do.
The words — δεικνύνειν (deiknuein, "to show, demonstrate") is the operative verb: Jesus is not merely predicting but pointing out a path. ἤρξατο (ērxato, "began") marks the onset of a new phase in the narrative.
The thread — Matthew records three passion predictions: 16:21, 17:22, and 20:17–18. Luke 24:6 echoes the third-day resurrection as a remembered teaching from Galilee.
Why it lands — The verse asks the reader to hold Messiah and cross in the same breath without resolving the tension. Peter's rebuke in the very next verse (16:22) is the warning: the human instinct is to reject the path Jesus has shown.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Cross-references
- Luke 24:6 He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee:
- Matthew 17:22 When they gathered together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.
- Matthew 20:17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said,
- Matthew 17:12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- Matthew 27:63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’
- Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
- Luke 17:25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
- Acts 2:23 He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
- Mark 8:31 Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again.