4
“He Was Led About by the Spirit in the Wilderness for Forty Days”
1 Jesus withdrew+ from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit, and he was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness
2 for forty days,+ being tempted by the devil.+ He didn’t eat anything during that time,+ and when it was over,+ he was hungry.
3 The devil said to Jesus,+ “If you are God’s Son, order this stone to become bread.”+
4 Jesus answered, “It is written:
“ ‘Man must live not by bread alone.”+
5 The devil+ led him up to a high place and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth+ in an instant.+
6 “I will give this authority, all of it, and the splendor of these kingdoms+ to ˢyou,” the devil said to him, “for it has been handed over to me,+ and I can give it to whomever it is I choose.+
7 ˢYou, therefore, if you will bow down in worship before me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written,
“ ‘The LORD ˢyour God is the one you must worship;
ˢyou+ are to serve him and him alone!’ ”+
9 The devil+ led Jesus+ to Jerusalem and had him stand on the wing+ of the temple complex. “If you are God’s Son,” he said to Jesus,+ “throw yourself down from here.
10 For it is written,
“ ‘He will give orders concerning ˢyou to his angels,
to protect you,’
11 and,
“ ‘they will lift you up with their powerful hands,
so that ˢyou will hit not even your foot against a stone.’ ”+
12 In response Jesus said to him, “It says,
“ ‘ˢYou+ must not put to the test the LORD your God!’ ”+
13 When the devil had finished tempting Jesus+ in every way,+ he left him for the time being.+
“Upon Me Is the Very Spirit of the LORD”
14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the surrounding regions.+
15 He was teaching in their synagogues, being acclaimed+ by everyone.
16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and he went on the Sabbath day, just as he always did,+ into the synagogue. He stood up to read the Scriptures
17 and was handed the scroll+ of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where this was written:
18 “Upon me is the very Spirit of the LORD,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim the gospel to the crushed.+
He has sent me to proclaim to the captives forgiveness,+
and to the blind recovery of sight,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.+”+
20 Then rolling up the scroll and giving it back to the synagogue attendant, he sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21 “Today,” he said to them, “this Scripture is fulfilled in ᵖyour hearing.”
22 They were speaking approvingly of him, all of them, and were amazed at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.+ Yet they began saying, “This is Joseph’s son, isn’t it?”+
23 Jesus+ said to them, “No doubt ᵖyou will quote to me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ You want to say, ‘Do here in your own hometown, too, all the things that we heard took place in Capernaum.”
24 Then he added, “Amen, I solemnly+ tell ᵖyou this: No prophet is welcome+ in his own hometown.
25 I tell ᵖyou, however, in truth, that even though there were in Elijah’s time+ indeed many widows in Israel, when the sky was shut up without rain for three and a half years and a severe famine came over all the land,+
26 Elijah was sent not to any of them, but only to the city of Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to the widow.+
27 Similarly, even though there were in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet many people suffering from leprosy,+ it wasn’t any of them who were healed and made clean, but only Naaman from the country of Syria.+”
28 All were enraged, those in the synagogue, when they heard these things.
29 They got up and forced Jesus+ out of the town and brought him to the edge of the hill on which their town was built, intending to throw him down the cliff.
30 Jesus,+ however, passing through the middle of the crowd,+ went on his way.
“They Were Astounded at His Teaching”
31 Then Jesus+ went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and he began to teach the people on the Sabbath.
32 They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.+
33 In the synagogue there was a man who had a demon, an unclean spirit.+
34 “Ah! What do you want with us,+ Jesus of Nazareth?” he screamed with a loud voice. “Are you here+ to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35 Jesus issued a stern command to the spirit.+ “Silence!” he said. “Come out of him!” At that the demon, as+ it threw the man+ to the floor in front of everyone,+ came out of him, without hurting him at all.
36 Awe came over everyone. “What in the world is this teaching+?” they kept asking one another. “For it is with power and authority that he gives orders to the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
37 So the news about him spread more and more throughout the surrounding area.
“All Those Who Had Loved Ones Who Were Sick Brought Them to Jesus”
38 After Jesus+ left the synagogue, he went to Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.+
39 So he went to her side and bent over her and issued a stern order to the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began preparing some food and drink for them.
40 As the sun was setting,+ all who had loved ones who were sick+ with various diseases brought them to Jesus.+ On each one of them placing his hands, he healed them.
41 Demons were coming out of many people, too, screaming, “You are the Son of God!” Giving them a stern command, he wouldn’t let them speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah.
“I Must Proclaim the Gospel, Too, in the Other Towns”
42 At daybreak Jesus+ left and went to a place in the wilderness. The crowds were looking everywhere for him, and when+ they finally found him,+ they tried to keep him from leaving them.
43 But Jesus+ said to them, “I must proclaim the gospel, too, in the other towns, concerning the Kingdom of God. For that is why I was sent.”
44 So he continued to proclaim the message in the synagogues throughout the territory where the Jewish people lived.