Beginning
Temptation in the Wilderness
4 Yeshua, now filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, returned from the Jordan. He was led by the Ruach in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tested by the devil. Now He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.
3 The devil said to Him, “If You are Ben-Elohim, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Yeshua answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”[a]
5 And leading Him up, the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. 6 And the devil said to Him, “I’ll give to You all this authority along with its glory, because it has been handed over to me and I can give it to anyone I wish. 7 Therefore, if you will worship before me, all this shall be Yours.”
8 But answering, Yeshua told him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship Adonai your God, and Him only shall you serve.’”[b]
9 Then he brought Yeshua to Jerusalem and placed Him on the highest point of the Temple. He said to Him, “If You are Ben-Elohim, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written,
‘He will command His angels concerning you,
to guard you,’[c]
11 and ‘upon their hands they will lift you up,
so that you may not strike your foot against a stone.’”[d]
12 But answering, Yeshua said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put Adonai your God to the test.’” [e] 13 And when the devil had completed every test, he departed from Him until another occasion.
Isaiah’s Prophecy Fulfilled in Natzeret
14 Yeshua returned in the power of the Ruach to the Galilee, and news about Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone was praising Him. 16 And He came to Natzeret, where He had been raised. As was His custom, He went into the synagogue on Shabbat, and He got up to read. 17 When the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him, He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Ruach Adonai is on me,
because He has anointed me
to proclaim Good News to the poor.
He has sent me[f] to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
19 and to proclaim the year of Adonai’s favor.”[g]
20 He closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue were focused on Him. 21 Then He began to tell them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.”
22 All were speaking well of Him and marveling at the gracious words coming out of His mouth. And they were saying, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”
23 But He said to them, “Doubtless you will say to Me this proverb, ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ and ‘What we have heard was done at Capernaum, do as much here also in your hometown.’”
24 But He said, “Truly, I tell you, ‘No prophet is accepted in his own hometown.’ 25 But with all truthfulness I say to you, that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when heaven was closed for three and a half years and there came a great famine over all the land. 26 Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a widowed woman. [h] 27 There were many with tzara’at in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were purified apart from Naaman the Syrian.”[i]
28 Now all in the synagogue were filled with rage upon hearing these things. 29 Rising up, they drove Him out of the town and brought Him as far as the edge of the mountain on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him off the cliff. 30 But passing through the middle of them, He went on His way.
Healing and Deliverance in Capernaum and Beyond
31 Yeshua came down to Capernaum, a town in the Galilee. He was teaching them on Shabbat, 32 and they were astounded at His teaching because His message had authority. 33 In the synagogue was a man who had an unclean demonic spirit, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ah! What have we to do with You, Yeshua of Natzeret? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are! You are the Holy One of God!”
35 Yeshua rebuked him, saying, “Quiet! Come out of him!” And when the demon threw him down in their midst, it came out without hurting him.
36 They were all amazed, and they spoke to one another, saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” 37 So His reputation grew, spreading to every place in that region.
38 After He left the synagogue, Yeshua entered Simon’s home. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they petitioned Him concerning her. 39 Then standing over her, He rebuked the fever and it left her. Immediately she arose to wait on them.
40 When the sun was setting, they brought to Yeshua all who were sick with various diseases. And He was laying hands on each one and healing them. 41 Even demons were coming out from many, shouting out and saying, “You are Ben-Elohim!”[j] But He was rebuking them and not permitting them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Messiah.
42 Now when it was day, He left and went to a desert place. The crowds were searching for Him, and they came to Him and were trying to keep Him from leaving them. 43 But He said to them, “I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God[k] to the other towns also. It was for this purpose I was sent.” 44 So He kept preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Calling Fishermen at the Kinneret
5 It happened that the crowds were pressing upon Yeshua to hear the word of God as He was standing by the Lake of Kinneret, 2 when He saw two boats standing beside the lake. Now the fishermen had left them and were washing the nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, Simon’s boat, Yeshua asked him to push out a ways from the land. Then sitting down, He taught the crowds from the boat.
4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Go out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon replied, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and caught nothing. But at Your word I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Yeshua’s knees, saying, “Go away from me, Master, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had gripped him and all who were with him, over the catch of fish they had netted; 10 so also Jacob and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were partners with Simon.
But Yeshua said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men.” 11 So when they had brought the boats to the landing, they left everything and followed Him.
Yeshua Heals and News Spreads
12 Now while Yeshua was in one of the towns, a man covered with tzara’at appeared. And when he saw Yeshua, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Master, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
13 Yeshua stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be cleansed!” Immediately, the tzara’at left him. 14 Yeshua ordered him to tell no one, but commanded him, “Go and show yourself to the kohen.[l] Then bring an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
15 But the news about Yeshua was spreading all the more, and many crowds were coming together to hear and to be healed of their diseases. 16 Yet He would often slip away into the wilderness and pray.
Crowds Gather from the Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem
17 Now on one of those days, Yeshua was teaching. Pharisees and Torah scholars were sitting there, who had come from every village of the Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem. And Adonai’s power to heal was in Him. 18 And behold, men were carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher, trying to bring him in and place him before Yeshua. 19 But when they found no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his stretcher through the tiles, right in the middle before Yeshua. 20 When He saw their faith, He said, “Man, your sins are forgiven.”
21 Then the Torah scholars and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this fellow speaking blasphemies? Who can pardon sins but God alone?”
22 Yeshua, knowing their thoughts, replied to them, “Why are you raising questions in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins. . . .” He said to the paralyzed one, “I tell you, get up and take your cot, and go home!”
25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. 26 Astonishment took hold of them, and they glorified God and all were filled with awe, saying, “We’ve seen incredible things today!”
The Banquet at Levi’s House
27 After these things, Yeshua went out and observed a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 And leaving everything, he got up and followed Him.
29 Levi made a great banquet for Yeshua at his house, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them. 30 The Pharisees and their Torah scholars began murmuring to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 And Yeshua answered and said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a doctor, but those who are sick do. 32 I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinful to repentance.”
33 But they said to Him, “John’s disciples often fast and offer prayers, as do the disciples of the Pharisees. But Your disciples are eating and drinking.”
34 But Yeshua said to them, “You cannot make the guests of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35 But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
36 Now he was also telling them a parable. “No one tears a patch from a new garment to use it on an old garment. Otherwise he will rip the new, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will be spilled out, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 No man who drinks old wine wants new, because he says, ‘The old is fine.’”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.