Luke 4
The Message
Tested by the Devil
4 1-2 Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry.
3 The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: “Since you’re God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.”
4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to really live.”
5-7 For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once. Then the Devil said, “They’re yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I’m in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they’re yours, the whole works.”
8 Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”
9-11 For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, “If you are God’s Son, jump. It’s written, isn’t it, that ‘he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone’?”
12 “Yes,” said Jesus, “and it’s also written, ‘Don’t you dare tempt the Lord your God.’”
13 That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.
To Set the Burdened Free
14-15 Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone’s acclaim and pleasure.
16-21 He came to Nazareth where he had been raised. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
God’s Spirit is on me;
he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, “This is God’s time to shine!”
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”
22 All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the one we’ve known since he was just a kid?”
23-27 He answered, “I suppose you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.”
28-30 That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way.
31-32 He went down to Capernaum, a village in Galilee. He was teaching the people on the Sabbath. They were surprised and impressed—his teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative, not the quibbling and quoting they were used to.
33-34 In the meeting place that day there was a man demonically disturbed. He screamed, “Stop! What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you’re up to. You’re the Holy One of God and you’ve come to destroy us!”
35 Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!” The demonic spirit threw the man down in front of them all and left. The demon didn’t hurt him.
36-37 That knocked the wind out of everyone and got them whispering and wondering, “What’s going on here? Someone whose words make things happen? Someone who orders demonic spirits to get out and they go?” Jesus was the talk of the town.
He Healed Them All
38-39 He left the meeting place and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was running a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. He stood over her, told the fever to leave—and it left. Before they knew it, she was up getting dinner for them.
40-41 When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to him. One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, “Son of God! You’re the Son of God!” But he shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew him to be the Messiah.
42-44 He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking and, when they found him, clung to him so he couldn’t go on. He told them, “Don’t you realize that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?” Meanwhile he continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.
Luke 4
1599 Geneva Bible
4 1 Of Christ’s temptation, and fasting. 16 He teacheth in Nazareth to the great admiration of all. 24 A Prophet that teacheth in his own country is condemned. 33 One possessed of the devil is cured. 38 Peter’s mother-in-law is healed, 40 and divers sick persons are restored to health. 41 The devils acknowledge Christ.
1 And [a]Jesus full of the holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by that Spirit into the wilderness,
2 (A)And was there forty days tempted of the devil, and in those days he did eat nothing, but when they were ended, he afterward was hungry.
3 [b]Then the devil said unto him, If thou be the son of God, command this stone, that it be made bread.
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, (B)That man shall not live by bread only, but by every word of God.
5 Then the devil took him up into an high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, in the twinkling of an eye.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this [c]power will I give thee, and the glory of those kingdoms: for that is [d]delivered to me: and to whomsoever I will, I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, they shall be all [e]thine.
8 But Jesus answered him, and said, Hence from me, Satan: for it is written, (C)Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him alone thou shalt serve.
9 Then he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence,
10 For it is written, (D)That he will give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee:
11 And with their hands they shall lift thee up, lest at anytime thou shouldest dash thy foot against a stone.
12 And Jesus answered, and said unto him, It is said, (E)Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a little season.
14 ¶ And Jesus returned by the power of the spirit into Galilee: and there went a fame of him throughout all the region round about:
15 For he taught in their Synagogues, and was honored of all men.
16 (F)[f]And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and (as his custom was) went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the Prophet Isaiah: and when he had [g]opened the book, he found the place, where it was written,
18 (G)The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me, that I should preach the Gospel to the poor: he hath sent me, that I should heal the brokenhearted, that I should preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, that I should set at liberty them that are bruised:
19 And that I should preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and gave it again to the minister, and sat down: and the eyes of all that were in the Synagogue were fastened on him.
21 Then he began to say unto them, This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.
22 [h]And all [i]bare him witness, and [j]wondered at the [k]gracious words, which proceeded out of his mouth, and said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
23 Then he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this Proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do it here likewise in thine own country.
24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, (H)No Prophet is accepted in his own country.
25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of (I)Elijah, when heaven was shut three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the [l]land:
26 But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save into Zarephath, a city of Sidon, unto a certain widow.
27 Also many lepers were in Israel, in the time of (J)Elisha the Prophet: yet none of them was made clean, saving Naaman the Syrian.
28 [m]Then all that were in the Synagogue, when they heard it, were filled with wrath,
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the edge of the hill, whereon their city was built, to cast him down headlong.
30 But he passed through the midst of them, and went his way,
31 ¶ (K)And came down into Capernaum a city of Galilee, and there taught them on the Sabbath days.
32 (L)And they were astonied at his doctrine: for his word was with authority.
33 (M)And in the Synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, which cried with a loud voice,
34 [n]Saying, Oh, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know who thou art, even the Holy one of God.
35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. Then the devil throwing him in the midst of them, came out of him, and hurt him nothing at all.
36 So fear came on them all, and they spake among themselves, saying, What thing is this: for with authority and power he commandeth the foul spirits, and they come out?
37 And the fame of him spread abroad throughout all the places of the country round about.
38 ¶ (N)[o]And he rose up, and came out of the Synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever, and they required him for her.
39 Then he stood over her, and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she arose, and ministered unto them.
40 Now at the Sun setting, all they that had sick folks of divers diseases, brought them unto him, and he laid his hands on everyone of them, and healed them.
41 (O)[p]And devils also came out of many, crying, and saying, Thou art that Christ that Son of God: but he rebuked them, and suffered them not to say that they knew him to be that Christ.
42 [q]And when it was day, he departed, and went forth into a desert place, and the people sought him, and came to him, and kept him that he should not depart from them.
43 But he said unto them, Surely I must also preach the kingdom of God to other cities: for therefore am I sent.
44 And he preached in the Synagogues of Galilee.
Footnotes
- Luke 4:1 Christ being carried away (as it were out of the world, into the desert) after the fast of forty days, and the overcoming of Satan thrice, coming as it were suddenly from heaven, beginneth his office.
- Luke 4:3 Christ being stirred up of Satan, first to distrust in God, secondly to the desire of riches and honor, and lastly to a vain confidence of himself, overcometh him thrice by the word of God.
- Luke 4:6 By this word power, are the kingdoms themselves meant, which have the power: and so it is spoken by the figure Metonymy.
- Luke 4:6 That is surely so, for he is prince of the world yet not absolutely, and is the sovereign over it, but by sufferance, and way of entreaty, and therefore he saith not true, that he can give it to whom he will.
- Luke 4:7 Out of an high place, which had a goodly champion country underneath it, he showed him the situation of all countries.
- Luke 4:16 Who Christ is, and wherefore he came, he showeth out of the prophet Isaiah.
- Luke 4:17 Their books in those days were rolled up as scrolls upon a ruler: and so Christ unrolled, or unfolded it, which is here called opened.
- Luke 4:22 Familiarity causeth Christ to be contemned, and therefore he oftentimes goeth to strangers.
- Luke 4:22 Approved those things, which he spake, with common consent and voice: for the word, witness, signifieth in this place, and many others to allow and approve a thing with open confession.
- Luke 4:22 Not only the doctors, but also the common people were present at this conference of the Scriptures: and besides that their mother tongue was used, for else how could the people have wondered? Paul appointed the same order in the Church at Corinth, 1 Cor. 14.
- Luke 4:22 Words full of the mighty power of God, which appeared in all his doings as well, and allured men marvelously unto him, Ps. 45:2, grace is poured into thy lips.
- Luke 4:25 Land of Israel, see Mark 15:38.
- Luke 4:28 The more sharply the world is rebuked, the more it rageth openly: but the life of the godly is not simply subject to the pleasure of the wicked.
- Luke 4:34 Christ astonisheth not only men, be they never so blockish, but even the demons also, whether they will or no.
- Luke 4:38 In that, that Christ healeth the diseases of the body with his word only, he proveth that he is God Almighty, sent for man’s salvation.
- Luke 4:41 Satan, who is a continual enemy to the truth, ought not to be heard, no not then, when he speaketh the truth.
- Luke 4:42 No color of zeal ought to hinder us in the race of our vocation.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
