Matthew 4
4
The Temptation of Jesus
1Then#Mk 1:12–13; Lk 4:1–13 Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.#Jos 15:61; Jdg 1:16; Jn 1:6–7; Jms 1:14 2After he had fasted forty days and forty nights,#Ex 34:28; 1Kg 19:8; Jn 9:4 he was hungry. 3Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”#Mk 3:11; 5:7; Lk 1:35; 4:41; Jn 1:34,49; Ac 9:20
4He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”#4:4 Dt 8:3#Dt 8:3
5Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,#Neh 11:1,18; Dn 9:24; Mt 27:53 6and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:
He will give his angels #
Gn 16:7; Mt 13:49; Lk 1:11; Ac 5:19; Rv 14:6 orders concerning you,
and they will support you with their hands
so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone.”#4:6 Ps 91:11–12#Ps 91:11–12; 1Pt 2:8
7Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”#4:7 Dt 6:16#Dt 6:16; 1Sm 7:3; 1Ch 21:1
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.”#4:9 Or and pay me homage
10Then Jesus told him, “Go away,#4:10 Other mss read “Get behind me Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”#4:10 Dt 6:13#Dt 6:13; 1Ch 21:1
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.#Mt 26:53; Lk 22:43; Heb 1:14
Ministry in Galilee
12When he heard that John had been arrested,#Mt 14:3; Mk 1:14; Lk 3:20; Jn 3:24 he withdrew into Galilee.#Lk 4:14; Jn 1:43; 2:11 13He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum#Mk 1:21; 2:1; Lk 4:23; Jn 2:12; 4:46 by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
15 Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
along the road by the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles.
16 The people who live in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those living in the land of the shadow of death,
a light has dawned. # 4:16 Lit dawned on them # 4:15–16 Is 9:1–2 #
Is 9:1–2; 42:7; Lk 2:32
17From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven#Mt 3:2; 5:3,10,19–20; 7:21; 8:11; Mk 1:14 has come near.”
The First Disciples
18As#Mk 1:16–20; Lk 5:2–11; Jn 1:40–42 he was walking along the Sea of Galilee,#Mt 15:29; Mk 7:31; Lk 5:1; Jn 6:1 he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen. 19“Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for#4:19 Or you fishers of people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, preparing their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Teaching, Preaching, and Healing
23Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee,#Mk 1:35–39; Lk 4:42–44 teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every#4:23 Or every kind of disease and sickness#4:23 Or physical ailment among the people.#Mt 13:54; 24:14; Ac 10:38 24Then the news about him spread throughout Syria.#Lk 2:2; Ac 15:23; Gl 1:21 So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics.#Mt 8:16; 9:32; Mk 5:15; Jn 10:21 And he healed them. 25Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.#Mk 3:7; 5:20; Lk 6:17
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Matthew 4
4
The Test
1-3Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.”
4Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”
5-6For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.”
7Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.”
8-9For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, “They’re yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”
10Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”
11The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.
Teaching and Healing
12-17When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah’s revelation:
Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
road to the sea, over Jordan,
Galilee, crossroads for the nations.
People sitting out their lives in the dark
saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
they watched the sun come up.
This Isaiah-prophesied revelation came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”
18-20Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.
21-22A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father.
23-25From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with a sickness, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.
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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.