The Devil Tempts Jesus

4 Now Jesus, full of [and in perfect communication with] the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness^{(A) 2} for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they ended, He was hungry.^{(B) 3} Then the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to turn into bread.” ⁴ Jesus replied to him, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone^[a].’”^(C)

⁵ Then he led Jesus up [to a high mountain] and displayed before Him all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth [and their magnificence] in the twinkling of an eye. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this realm and its glory [its power, its renown]; because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore if You worship before me, it will all be Yours.” ⁸ Jesus replied to him, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.’”^(D)

⁹ Then he led Jesus to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle (highest point) of the temple, and said [mockingly] to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; ¹⁰ for it is written and forever remains written,

¹¹ and,

¹² Jesus replied to him, “It is said [in Scripture], ‘you shall not tempt the Lord your God [to prove Himself to you].’”^(F)

¹³ When the devil had finished every temptation, he [temporarily] left Him until a more opportune time.

Jesus’ Public Ministry

¹⁴ Then Jesus went back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread through the entire region. ¹⁵ And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised and glorified and honored by all.

¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,^(G)

²⁰ Then He rolled up the scroll [having stopped in the middle of the verse], gave it back to the attendant and sat down [to teach]; and the eyes of all those in the synagogue were [attentively] fixed on Him. ²¹ He began speaking to them: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing and in your presence.” ²² And [as He continued on] they all were speaking well of Him, and were in awe and were wondering about the words of grace which were coming from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” ²³ So He said to them, “You will no doubt quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal Yourself! Whatever [miracles] that we heard were done [by You] in Capernaum, do here in Your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ Then He said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

³⁰ But passing [miraculously] through the crowd, He went on His way.