Matthew 4
4
1Then was Iesus led aside of the Spirit into the wildernes, to be tempted of the deuil. 2And when he had fasted fourtie dayes, and fourtie nights, he was afterward hungrie. 3Then came to him the tempter, and said, If thou be the Sonne of God, commande that these stones be made bread. 4But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not liue by bread onely, but by euery worde that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5Then the deuil tooke him vp into the holy Citie, and set him on a pinacle of the temple, 6And said vnto him, If thou be the Sonne of God, cast thy selfe downe: for it is written, that he wil giue his Angels charge ouer thee, and with their hands they shall lift thee vp, lest at any time thou shouldest dash thy foote against a stone. 7Iesus saide vnto him, It is written againe, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8Againe the deuil tooke him vp into an exceeding hie mountaine, and shewed him all the kingdomes of the world, and the glory of them, 9And sayd to him, All these will I giue thee, if thou wilt fall downe, and worship me. 10Then sayd Iesus vnto him, Auoyde Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him onely shalt thou serue. 11Then the deuill left him: and beholde, the Angels came, and ministred vnto him. 12And when Iesus had heard that Iohn was committed to prison, he returned into Galile. 13And leauing Nazareth, went and dwelt in Capernaum, which is neere the sea in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim, 14That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the Propet, saying, 15The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim by the way of the sea, beyond Iordan, Galile of the Gentiles: 16The people which sate in darkenes, sawe great light: and to them which sate in the region, and shadowe of death, light is risen vp. 17From that time Iesus began to preach, and to say, Amende your liues: for the kingdome of heauen is at hand. 18And Iesus walking by the sea of Galile, sawe two brethren, Simon, which was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishers.) 19And he sayd vnto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20And they straightway leauing the nets, folowed him. 21And when he was gone forth from thence, he saw other two brethren, Iames the sonne of Zebedeus, and Iohn his brother in a ship with Zebedeus their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22And they without tarying, leauing the ship, and their father, folowed him. 23So Iesus went about all Galile, teaching in their Synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdome, and healing euery sicknesse and euery disease among the people. 24And his fame spread abroad through all Syria: and they brought vnto him all sicke people, that were taken with diuers diseases and torments, and them that were possessed with deuils, and those which were lunatike, and those that had the palsey: and he healed them. 25And there folowed him great multitudes out of Galile, and Decapolis, and Hierusalem, and Iudea, and from beyond Iordan.
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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.