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The Temptation of Jesus

Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Jesus ate nothing for 40 days and nights. After this, he was very hungry. The devil came to Jesus to tempt him. The devil said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these rocks to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘A person does not live only by eating bread. But a person lives by everything the Lord says.’”[a]

Then the devil led Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem. He put Jesus on a very high place of the Temple. The devil said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off. It is written in the Scriptures,

‘He has put his angels in charge of you.
    They will catch you with their hands.
And you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” Psalm 91:11-12

Jesus answered him, “It also says in the Scriptures, ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”[b]

Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain. He showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and all the great things that are in those kingdoms. The devil said, “If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.”

10 Jesus said to the devil, “Go away from me, Satan! It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must worship the Lord your God. Serve only him!’”[c]

11 So the devil left Jesus. And then some angels came to Jesus and helped him.

Jesus Begins Work in Galilee

12 Jesus heard that John had been put in prison. So Jesus went back to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and went and lived in Capernaum, a town near Lake Galilee. Capernaum is in the area near Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 Jesus did this to make true what the prophet Isaiah said:

15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali
    are on the way to the sea.
They are along the Jordan River.
    This is Galilee where the non-Jewish people live.
16 These people who live in darkness
    will see a great light.
They live in a place that is very dark.
    But a light will shine on them.” Isaiah 9:1-2

Jesus Chooses Some Followers

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Change your hearts and lives, because the kingdom of heaven is coming soon.”

18 Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Simon’s brother Andrew. The brothers were fishermen, and they were fishing in the lake with a net. 19 Jesus said, “Come follow me. I will make you fishermen for men.” 20 At once Simon and Andrew left their nets and followed him.

21 Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets to catch fish. Jesus told them to come with him. 22 At once they left the boat and their father, and they followed Jesus.

Jesus Teaches and Heals People

23 Jesus went everywhere in Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and preached the Good News about the kingdom of heaven. And he healed all the people’s diseases and sicknesses. 24 The news about Jesus spread all over Syria, and people brought all the sick to him. These sick people were suffering from different kinds of diseases and pain. Some were suffering very great pain, some had demons, some were epileptics,[d] and some were paralyzed. Jesus healed all of them. 25 Many people followed him. They came from Galilee, the Ten Towns,[e] Jerusalem, Judea, and the land across the Jordan River.

Footnotes

  1. 4:4 ‘A person . . . says.’ Quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3.
  2. 4:7 ‘Do . . . God.’ Quotation from Deuteronomy 6:16.
  3. 4:10 ‘You . . . him!’ Quotation from Deuteronomy 6:13.
  4. 4:24 epileptics People with a disease that causes them sometimes to lose control of their bodies, and maybe faint, shake strongly, or not be able to move.
  5. 4:25 Ten Towns In Greek, called “Decapolis.” It was an area east of Lake Galilee that once had ten main towns.

1 Christ is tempted. 4 He vanquisheth the devil with Scripture. 11 The Angels minister unto him. 12 He preacheth repentance, and that himself is come. 18 The calling of Peter, Andrew. 21 James and John. 24 He preacheth the Gospel, and healeth the diseased.

Then (A)was [a]Jesus led aside of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil.

And when he had fasted [b]forty days, and forty nights, he was afterward hungry.

Then came to him the tempter, and said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

But he answering, said, It is written, (B)Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a [c]pinnacle of the Temple.

And said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, (C)that he will give his Angels charge over thee, and with their hands they shall lift thee up, lest at any time thou shouldest dash thy foot against a stone.

Jesus said unto him, It is written again, (D)Thou shalt not [d]tempt the Lord thy God.

Again the devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,

And said to him, All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down, and worship me.

10 Then said Jesus unto him, Avoid Satan: for it is written, (E)Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 (F)Then the devil left him: and behold, the Angels came, and ministered unto him.

12 (G)[e]And when Jesus had heard that John was committed to prison, he returned into Galilee,

13 And leaving Nazareth, went and dwelt in [f]Capernaum, which is near the sea in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali,

14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, saying,

15 (H)The land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali by the way of the [g]sea, beyond Jordan, [h]Galilee of the Gentiles:

16 The people which sat in darkness, saw great light: and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is risen up.

17 (I)From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Amend your lives: for the kingdom of heaven is at [i]hand.

18 [j]And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon, which was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishers.)

19 (J)And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And they straightway leaving the nets, followed him.

21 And when he was gone forth from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

22 And they without tarrying, leaving the ship and their father, followed him.

23 So [k]Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in [l]their [m]Synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the [n]kingdom, and healing [o]every sickness, and every [p]disease among the people.

24 And his fame spread abroad through all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people, that were taken with divers diseases, and [q]torments, and them that were possessed with devils, and those which were [r]lunatic, and those that had the [s]palsy: and he healed them.

25 And there followed him great multitudes out of Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond Jordan.

Footnotes

  1. Matthew 4:1 Christ was tempted all manner of ways and still overcometh, that we also through his virtue may overcome.
  2. Matthew 4:2 Full forty days.
  3. Matthew 4:5 The battlement wherewith the flat roof of the temple was compassed about, that no man might fall down: as was appointed by the Law, Deut. 22:8.
  4. Matthew 4:7 Word for word, Thou shalt not go on still in tempting.
  5. Matthew 4:12 When the Herald’s mouth is stopped, the Lord revealeth himself, and bringeth full light into the darkness of this world, preaching free forgiveness of sins to them that repent.
  6. Matthew 4:13 Which was a town a great deal more famous than Nazareth was.
  7. Matthew 4:15 Of Tiberias, or because that country bended toward Tyre, which standeth upon the sea that cutteth the midst of the world.
  8. Matthew 4:15 So called, because it bordered upon Tyre and Sidon, and because Solomon gave the king of Tyre twenty cities in that quarter, 1 Kings 9:11.
  9. Matthew 4:17 Is come to you.
  10. Matthew 4:18 Christ thinking by time, that he should at length depart from us, even at the beginning of his preaching getteth him disciples after an heavenly sort, men indeed poor, and utterly unlearned, and therefore such as might be least suspected witnesses of the truth of those things which they heard and saw.
  11. Matthew 4:23 Christ assureth the hearts of the believers of his spiritual and saving virtue, by healing the diseases of the body.
  12. Matthew 4:23 Their, that is, the Galileans’.
  13. Matthew 4:23 Synagogues, the Jews’ Churches.
  14. Matthew 4:23 Of Messiah.
  15. Matthew 4:23 Diseases of all kinds, but not every one: that is, as we say, some of every one.
  16. Matthew 4:23 The word signifieth properly the weakness of the stomach: but here it is taken for those diseases which make men faint, and wear away, that have them.
  17. Matthew 4:24 The word signifieth properly, the stone wherewith gold is tried: and by a borrowed kind of speech is applied to all kinds of examination by torture, when as by rough dealing and torments, we go about to draw out the truth of men, which otherwise they would not confess: and in this place it is taken for those diseases, which put sick men to great woe.
  18. Matthew 4:24 Which at every full Moon, or other changes of the Moon, are shrewdly troubled and diseased.
  19. Matthew 4:24 Weak and feeble men, who have the parts of their body loosed, and so weakened, that they are neither able to gather them up together, nor put them out as they would.