Luke 4

The Temptation of Christ

1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.3 And the devil said to Him, If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.4 But Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.6 And the devil said to Him, All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.8 And Jesus answered and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve. 9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.10 For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you, 11 and, In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.12 And Jesus answered and said to him, It has been said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. 13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

Acceptance Throughout Galilee

14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Rejection at Nazareth

16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;19  To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.21 And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, Is this not Josephs son?23 He said to them, You will surely say this proverb to Me, Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country. 24 Then He said, Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

Demons are Cast Out

31 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.32 And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice,34 saying, Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are the Holy One of God!35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and come out of him! And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.36 Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.37 And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Peters Mother-in-Law Healed

38 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simons house. But Simons wifes mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

Jesus Ministers Throughout Galilee

40 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, You are the Christ, the Son of God! And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them;43 but He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

LUKE 4

Jesus and the Devil

(Matthew 4.1-11; Mark 1.12,13)

1 When Jesus returned from the Jordan River, the power of the Holy Spirit was with him, and the Spirit led him into the desert.

2 For 40 days Jesus was tested by the devil, and during that time he went without eating.t When it was all over, he was hungry.

3 The devil said to Jesus, “If you are God's Son, tell this stone to turn into bread.”

4  t Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say, ‘No one can live only on food.’ ”
5 Then the devil led Jesus up to a high place and quickly showed him all the nations on earth. 6 The devil said, “I will give all this power and glory to you. It has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.

7 Just worship me, and you can have it all.”

8  t Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say:
‘Worship the Lord your God
and serve only him!’ ”
9 Finally, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and had him stand on top of the temple. The devil said, “If you are God's Son, jump off.

10-11 t The Scriptures say:
‘God will tell his angels
to take care of you.
They will catch you
in their arms,
and you will not even hurt
your feet on the stones.’ ”

12  t Jesus answered, “The Scriptures also say, ‘Don't try to test the Lord your God!’ ”

13 After the devil had finished testing Jesus in every way possible, he left him for a while.

Jesus Begins His Work

(Matthew 4.12-17; Mark 1.14,15)

15 He taught in the Jewish synagogues, and everyone praised him.

The People of Nazareth //Turn against Jesus

(Matthew 13.53-58; Mark 6.1-6)

17 he was given the book of Isaiah the prophet. He opened it and read,

18  t “The Lord's Spirit
has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news
to the poor.
The Lord has sent me
to announce freedom
for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone
who suffers,

19 and to say, ‘This is the year
the Lord has chosen.’ ”

20 Jesus closed the book, then handed it back to the man in charge and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue looked straight at Jesus.

21 Then Jesus said to them, “What you have just heard me read has come true today.”

22 All the people started talking about Jesus and were amazed at the wonderful things he said. They kept on asking, “Isn't he Joseph's son?”

23 Jesus answered:
You will certainly want to tell me this saying, “Doctor, first make yourself well.” You will tell me to do the same things here in my own hometown that you heard I did in Capernaum.

24 t But you can be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown.
25  t Once during the time of Elijah there was no rain for three and a half years, and people everywhere were starving. There were many widows in Israel, 26 t but Elijah was sent only to a widow in the town of Zarephath near the city of Sidon.

27 t During the time of the prophet Elisha, many men in Israel had leprosy.t But no one was healed, except Naaman who lived in Syria.
28 When the people in the synagogue heard Jesus say this, they became so angry 29 that they got up and threw him out of town. They dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built, because they wanted to throw him down from there.

30 But Jesus slipped through the crowd and got away.

A Man with an Evil Spirit

(Mark 1.21-28)

34 “Hey, Jesus of Nazareth, what do you want with us? Are you here to get rid of us? I know who you are! You are God's Holy One.”

35 Jesus ordered the evil spirit to be quiet and come out. The demon threw the man to the ground in front of everyone and left without harming him.
36 They all were amazed and kept saying to each other, “What kind of teaching is this? He has power to order evil spirits out of people!”

37 News about Jesus spread all over that part of the country.

Jesus Heals Many People

(Matthew 8.14-17; Mark 1.29-34)

39 So Jesus went over to her and ordered the fever to go away. Right then she was able to get up and serve them a meal.
40 After the sun had set, people with all kinds of diseases were brought to Jesus. He put his hands on each one of them and healed them.

41 Demons went out of many people and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus ordered the demons not to speak because they knew he was the Messiah.
42 The next morning Jesus went out to a place where he could be alone, and crowds came looking for him. When they found him, they tried to stop him from leaving. 43 But Jesus said, “People in other towns must hear the good news about God's kingdom. This is why I was sent.” 44 So he kept on preaching in the synagogues in Judea.t