Matthew 4
4
Jesus and the Devil
(Mark 1.12,13; Luke 4.1-13)
1 #
He 2.18; 4.15. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert, so that the devil could test him. 2After Jesus had gone without eating#4.2 without eating: The Jewish people sometimes went without eating (also called “fasting”) to show their love for God or to show sorrow for their sins. for 40 days and nights, he was very hungry. 3Then the devil came to him and said, “If you are God's Son, tell these stones to turn into bread.”
4 #
Dt 8.3. Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say:
‘No one can live only on food.
People need every word
that God has spoken.’ ”
5Next, the devil took Jesus into the holy city to the highest part of the temple. 6#Ps 91.11,12. The devil said, “If you are God's Son, jump off. The Scriptures say:
‘God will give his angels
orders about you.
They will catch you
in their arms,
and you won't hurt
your feet on the stones.’ ”
7 #
Dt 6.16. Jesus answered, “The Scriptures also say, ‘Don't try to test the Lord your God!’ ”
8Finally, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms on earth and their power. 9The devil said to him, “I will give all this to you, if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 #
Dt 6.13. Jesus answered, “Go away Satan! The Scriptures say:
‘Worship the Lord your God
and serve only him.’ ”
11Then the devil left Jesus, and angels came to help him.
Jesus Begins His Work
(Mark 1.14,15; Luke 4.14,15)
12 #
Mt 14.3,4; Mk 6.17; Lk 3.19,20. When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he went to Galilee. 13#Jn 2.12. But instead of staying in Nazareth, Jesus moved to Capernaum. This town was beside Lake Galilee in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali.#4.13 Zebulun and Naphtali: In Old Testament times these tribes were in northern Palestine, and in New Testament times many Gentiles lived where these tribes had once been. 14So God's promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,
15 #
Is 9.1,2. “Listen, lands of Zebulun
and Naphtali,
lands along the road
to the sea
and across the Jordan.
Listen Galilee,
land of the Gentiles!
16Although your people
live in darkness,
they will see
a bright light.
Although they live
in the shadow of death,
a light will shine
on them.”
17 #
Mt 3.2. Then Jesus started preaching, “Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven will soon be here.”#4.17 The kingdom of heaven will soon be here: See the two notes at 3.2.
Jesus Chooses Four Fishermen
(Mark 1.16-20; Luke 5.1-11)
18While Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers. One was Simon, also known as Peter, and the other was Andrew. They were fishermen, and they were casting their net into the lake. 19Jesus said to them, “Follow me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” 20Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.
21Jesus walked on until he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus asked them to come with him. 22At once they left the boat and their father and went with Jesus.
Jesus Teaches, Preaches, and Heals
(Luke 6.17-19)
23 #
Mt 9.35; Mk 1.39. Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news about God's kingdom. He also healed every kind of disease and sickness. 24News about him spread all over Syria, and people with every kind of sickness or disease were brought to him. Some of them had a lot of demons in them, others were thought to be crazy,#4.24 thought to be crazy: In ancient times people with epilepsy were thought to be crazy. and still others could not walk. But Jesus healed them all.
25Large crowds followed Jesus from Galilee and the region around the ten cities known as Decapolis.#4.25 the ten cities known as Decapolis: A group of ten cities east of Samaria and Galilee, where the people followed the Greek way of life. They also came from Jerusalem, Judea, and from across the Jordan River.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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.