Luke 4
4
Jesus Is Tempted in the Desert
1After Jesus was baptized, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and went away from the Jordan River. The Spirit led him into the desert, 2and there the devil tempted him for 40 days. Jesus ate nothing during that time, and at the end of the 40 days he was very hungry.
3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live only on bread.’ ”
5Then the devil led Jesus up to a high place. In an instant, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world 6and said to him, “I will give you all their authority and glory. It has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God. He is the only one you should serve.’ ”
9Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem. He had Jesus stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10It is written,
“ ‘The Lord will command his angels to take good care of you.
11They will pick you up in their hands
so that you won’t trip over a stone.’ ”
12Jesus answered, “It is said, ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’ ”
13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Jesus, but he waited for another opportunity to trap him.
Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth
14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. News about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He began to teach in their synagogues, and everyone spoke well of him.
16Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. On the Sabbath day he went as usual to the synagogue and stood up to read. 17They handed him the scroll of Isaiah the prophet. Jesus unrolled it and found the right place. He read what was written there:
18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to announce the good news to the poor.
He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners,
to make the blind see again,
to set free those who are mistreated,
19and to say that this is the time when God will act.”
20Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue had their eyes on him. 21He began by telling them, “Today this passage of Scripture has come true as you have listened.”
22Everyone said good things about him. They were amazed at the gracious words they heard from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23Jesus responded, “You’ll certainly apply this saying to me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ And by that you’ll mean, ‘We want you to do here in your hometown the things we’ve heard you did in Capernaum.’ ”
24“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “a prophet is not accepted in his own hometown. 25There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when it didn’t rain for three and a half years and there wasn’t enough food to eat anywhere in the land. 26But Elijah wasn’t sent to any of those widows; instead, he was sent to a widow in Zarephath near Sidon. 27And in the days of Elisha the prophet, many people in Israel had skin diseases. But none of them was healed, only Naaman, who was a Syrian.”
28All the people in the synagogue became very angry when they heard these things. 29They got up, ran Jesus out of town, and took him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They were planning to throw him off the cliff, 30but Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit
31Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and there he taught the people on the Sabbath day. 32They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33In the synagogue there was a man who was controlled by a demon, that is, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34“Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—you’re the Holy One of God!”
35“Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down in front of everybody, but it came out without hurting him.
36All the people were amazed. They said to each other, “How is he able to speak like that? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits, and they come out!” 37The news about Jesus spread throughout the whole area.
Jesus Heals Many People
38Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. At that time, Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, so they asked Jesus to help her. 39He bent over her and commanded the fever to leave, and it left her. She got right up and began to serve them.
40At sunset, people brought to Jesus everyone who was sick. He placed his hands on each one and healed them. 41Demons also came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he commanded them to be quiet, and he didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
42At dawn, Jesus went out to a place where he could be by himself. The people went to look for him, and when they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving. 43But he told them, “I have to announce the good news of God’s kingdom to the other towns as well. That’s why I was sent.” 44And so he went around preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
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Luke 4
4
Tested by the Devil
1-2Now 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.
3The 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.”
4Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to really live.”
5-7For 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.”
8Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”
9-11For 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.’”
13That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.
To Set the Burdened Free
14-15Jesus 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.
16-21He 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.”
22All 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?”
23-27He 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.”
28-30That 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.
31-32He 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.
33-34In 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!”
35Jesus 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.
36-37That 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
38-39He 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.
40-41When 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.
42-44He 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.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.