Bible Strands
Matthew 17:6
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown in terror.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The disciples stand on the mountain after the voice from the cloud declares Jesus as God's beloved Son and commands them to listen to Him.
The words — ἀκούσαντες (akousantes) means "having heard," and ἔπεσαν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον (epesan epi prosōpon) literally means "fell upon face."
The thread — The physical reaction of falling to the ground appears in Acts 26:14, while the direct experience of hearing a heavenly voice on a holy mountain is recorded in 2 Peter 1:18.
Why it lands — The text records the disciples' immediate physical collapse before Jesus approaches to touch them and command them to rise. It requires the reader to recognize the overwhelming weight of divine revelation and the necessity of Christ's personal intervention to restore composure.
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
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
Cross-references
- Acts 26:14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
- Judges 13:20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.
- 2 Peter 1:18 And we ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
- Leviticus 9:24 Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
- Judges 13:22 “We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”
- 1 Chronicles 21:16 When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
- Ezekiel 3:23 So I got up and went out to the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD was present there, like the glory I had seen by the River Kebar, and I fell facedown.
- Ezekiel 43:3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar. I fell facedown,
- Daniel 8:17 As he came near to where I stood, I was terrified and fell facedown. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.”
- Daniel 10:7 Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but a great terror fell upon them, and they ran and hid themselves.