Matthew Chapter 11 verse 14 Holy Bible
And if ye are willing to receive `it,' this is Elijah, that is to come.
read chapter 11 in ASV
And if you are able to see it, this is Elijah who was to come.
read chapter 11 in BBE
And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, who is to come.
read chapter 11 in DARBY
And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
read chapter 11 in KJV
read chapter 11 in WBT
If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.
read chapter 11 in WEB
and if ye are willing to receive `it', he is Elijah who was about to come;
read chapter 11 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 14 - In Matthew only. And if ye will receive it. Our Lord gives the information plainly, but doubts if it will be of any use to them. Will (θέλετε). For the reception of a truth depends upon the attitude of the will In this case to acknowledge John as Elijah would mean to accept the present consequences of that reformation which Elijah was to bring about (Malachi 4:6). But "the human will has a natural disinclination to cultivate and sharpen the conscience in combination with the knowledge of the law, has no desire to look into this mirror, and men as a rule desire to have quite a different picture of themselves from that which conscience shows them" (Marten-sen's 'Christian Ethics,' 1. § 119). It. My statement. Not him, i.e. John, with Revised Version margin. This (αὐτός). He and no other (ch. 1:21). Is Elias. In spiritual work, not in identity of person (John 1:21). (On the Jewish expectation of the return of Elijah, see Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.,' on Matthew 17:10.) Which was for to come; which is to come (Revised Version). The phrase ὁ μέλλων ἔρχεσθαι) is perhaps best understood, not as an independent remark by our Lord about Elijah, but as a current saying, representing the popular expectation of him, and adopted by our Lord, who gave it his own interpretation. It can hardly point also to a yet future coming of the prophet. But compare Bishop Westcott, on John 1:21, and Schurer, II. 2:156.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(14) This is Elias.--The words of Malachi (Malachi 4:5) had led men to expect the reappearance of the great Tishbite in person as the immediate precursor of the Christ. It was the teaching of the scribes then (Matthew 17:10; John 1:21); it has lingered as a tradition of Judaism down to our own time. A vacant chair is placed for Elijah at all great solemnities. Even Christian interpreters have cherished the belief that Elijah will appear in person before the second Advent of the Lord. The true meaning of the words of Malachi had, however, been suggested in the words of the angel in Luke 1:17, "He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias," and is here distinctly confirmed. The words "if ye will (i.e., are willing to) receive it" imply the consciousness that our Lord was setting aside a popular and strongly-fixed belief: "If you are willing and able to receive the truth that John was in very deed doing the work of Elijah, you need look for no other in the future."
