The Temptation of Jesus

4 Then Jesus^(A) left the Jordan,^(B) full of the Holy Spirit,^(C) and was led by the Spirit^(D) in the wilderness ² for forty days^(E) to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴ But Jesus answered him, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone.”^[a][b](F)

How to Fast

¹⁶ “Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces ^(A) so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,^{(B) 18} so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.^[a]

A Question about Fasting

¹⁴ Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” ^(A)

¹⁵ Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests^[a] be sad while the groom is with them? The time^[b] will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. ¹⁷ And no one puts^[c] new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

³¹ In the meantime the disciples kept urging him, “Rabbi,^(A) eat something.”

³² But he said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

³³ The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”

³⁴ “My food is to do the will of him^(B) who sent me^(C) and to finish his work,”^(D) Jesus told them. ³⁵ “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open^[a] your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready^[b] for harvest. ³⁶ The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life,^(E) so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’^{(F) 38} I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from^[c] their labor.”

⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna^(A) in the wilderness,^(B) and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die.^{(C) 51} I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live^(D) forever.^(E) The bread that I will give for the life^(F) of the world is my flesh.”^(G)

⁶ Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters,^(A) and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying,

For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.^(F)

⁹ Then he^[a] said to me,^(G) “Write: Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast^(H) of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”^{(I) 10} Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “Don’t do that!^(J) I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold firmly to the testimony of Jesus.^(K) Worship God, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit^[b] of prophecy.”