Matthew 4
4
1Then Jesus was carried up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil: 2and having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he hungered. 3And the tempter coming up to him said, If thou be Son of God, speak, that these stones may become loaves of bread. 4But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God's mouth. 5Then the devil takes him to the holy city, and sets him upon the edge of the temple, 6and says to him, If thou be Son of God cast thyself down; for it is written, He shall give charge to his angels concerning thee, and on their hands shall they bear thee, lest in anywise thou strike thy foot against a stone. 7Jesus said to him, It is again written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8Again the devil takes him to a very high mountain, and shews him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory, 9and says to him, All these things will I give thee if, falling down, thou wilt do me homage. 10Then says Jesus to him, Get thee away, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve. 11Then the devil leaves him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.
12But having heard that John was delivered up, he departed into Galilee: 13and having left Nazareth, he went and dwelt at Capernaum, which is on the sea-side in the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim, 14that that might be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet, saying, 15Land of Zabulon and land of Nepthalim, way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations: 16— the people sitting in darkness has seen a great light, and to those sitting in the country and shadow of death, to them has light sprung up. 17From that time began Jesus to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.
18And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers; 19and he says to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20And they, having left their trawl-nets, immediately followed him. 21And going on thence he saw other two brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the ship with Zebedee their father, mending their trawl-nets, and he called them; 22and they, having left the ship and their father, immediately followed him.
23And Jesus went round the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every bodily weakness among the people. 24And his fame went out into the whole of Syria, and they brought to him all that were ill, suffering under various diseases and pains, and those possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and he healed them. 25And great crowds followed him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judaea, and beyond the Jordan.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
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.