The Temptation of Jesus

4 ^(A)Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness ^(B)to be tempted by the devil. ² And after He had ^(C)fasted forty days and forty nights, He ^[a]then became hungry. ³ And ^(D)the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the ^(E)Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘^(F)Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil *took Him into ^(G)the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,

and

⁷ Jesus said to him, “^[b]On the other hand, it is written, ‘^(I)You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

^8 (J)Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; ⁹ and he said to Him, “^(K)All these things I will give You, if You fall down and ^[c]worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘^(L)You shall worship the Lord your God, and ^[d]serve Him only.’” ¹¹ Then the devil *left Him; and behold, ^(M)angels came and began to minister to Him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹² Now when Jesus heard that ^(N)John had been taken into custody, ^(O)He withdrew into Galilee; ¹³ and leaving Nazareth, He came and ^(P)settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

^17 (S)From that time Jesus began to ^[g]preach and say, “^(T)Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The First Disciples

^18 (U)Now as Jesus was walking by ^(V)the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, ^(W)Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And He *said to them, “^[h]Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ Going on from there He saw two other brothers, ^[i](X)James the son of Zebedee, and ^[j]John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Ministry in Galilee

²³ Jesus was going ^(Y)throughout all Galilee, ^(Z)teaching in their synagogues and ^(AA)proclaiming the ^[k]gospel of the kingdom, and ^(AB)healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

²⁴ The news about Him spread ^(AC)throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, ^(AD)demoniacs, ^[l](AE)epileptics, ^(AF)paralytics; and He healed them. ²⁵ Large crowds ^(AG)followed Him from Galilee and ^(AH)the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from ^(AI)beyond the Jordan.

The Temptation of Jesus

4 ^(A)Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, ^(B)returned from the Jordan and was led around ^[a]by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for ^(C)forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. ³ And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” ⁴ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘^(D)Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

^5 (E)And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of ^[b](F)the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and ^[c]its glory; ^(G)for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore if You ^[d]worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” ⁸ Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘^(H)You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

^9 (I)And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; ¹⁰ for it is written,

¹¹ and,

¹² And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘^(L)You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

¹³ When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

Jesus’ Public Ministry

¹⁴ And ^(M)Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and ^(N)news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. ¹⁵ And He began ^(O)teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶ And He came to ^(P)Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, ^(Q)He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and ^(R)stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the ^[e]book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the ^[f]book and found the place where it was written,

²⁰ And He ^(U)closed the ^[g]book, gave it back to the attendant and ^(V)sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ^[h]hearing.” ²² And all were ^[i]speaking well of Him, and wondering at the ^[j]gracious words which ^[k]were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “^(W)Is this not Joseph’s son?” ²³ And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done ^(X)at Capernaum, do here in ^(Y)your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And He said, “Truly I say to you, ^(Z)no prophet is welcome in his hometown. ²⁵ But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel ^(AA)in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; ²⁶ and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but ^(AB)only to ^[l]Zarephath, in the land of ^(AC)Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but ^(AD)only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; ²⁹ and they got up and ^(AE)drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. ³⁰ But ^(AF)passing through their midst, He went His way.

³¹ And ^(AG)He came down to ^(AH)Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; ³² and ^(AI)they were amazed at His teaching, for ^(AJ)His ^[m]message was with authority. ³³ In the synagogue there was a man ^[n]possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Let us alone! ^[o](AK)What business do we have with each other, Jesus ^[p]of ^(AL)Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—^(AM)the Holy One of God!” ³⁵ But Jesus ^(AN)rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. ³⁶ And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is ^[q]this message? For ^(AO)with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.” ³⁷ And ^(AP)the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.

Many Are Healed

^38 (AQ)Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ^(AR)suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him ^[r]to help her. ³⁹ And standing over her, He ^(AS)rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and ^[s]waited on them.

^40 (AT)While ^(AU)the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and ^(AV)laying His hands on each one of them, He was ^(AW)healing them. ⁴¹ Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are ^(AX)the Son of God!” But ^(AY)rebuking them, He would ^(AZ)not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be ^[t]the Christ.

^42 (BA)When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. ⁴³ But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, ^(BB)for I was sent for this purpose.”

⁴⁴ So He kept on preaching in the synagogues ^(BC)of ^[u]Judea.

Blessedness of the Fear of the Lord.

A Song of Ascents.