Luke 4

The Temptation of Jesus

1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, came back from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness,

2 where He was tested by the devil for forty days. He did not eat anything that whole time, and when it was over, He was hungry.

3 The devil said to Him, “If You really are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: man does not live on bread alone.”

5 Then the devil took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment.

6 He said, “I will give You all this power and glory, it has been handed to me, and I give it to whoever I want.

7 If You bow down and worship me, it is all Yours.”

8 Jesus answered, “It is written: worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”

9 Then he took Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the highest point of the temple, and said, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.

10 It is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’

11 and ‘They will lift You up so You will not hit Your foot on a stone.’”

12 Jesus answered, “It is said: do not test the Lord your God.”

13 When the devil finished every test, he left Him for a while.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 Jesus came back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and word about Him spread everywhere.

15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and people were speaking well of Him.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

16 He came to Nazareth, where He had been raised. As usual, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.

17 The scroll of Isaiah was handed to Him. He unrolled it and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue was locked in on Him.

21 He started speaking: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

22 They all spoke well of Him at first, amazed at the words coming out of His mouth. But then they started saying, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

23 Jesus said to them, “You will probably say to Me, ‘Doctor, heal Yourself,’ and ‘Do here in Your hometown what we heard You did in Capernaum.’”

24 Then He said, “I am telling you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.

25 Think about it, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine.

26 But Elijah was not sent to any of them, only to a widow in Zarephath in Sidon.

27 And there were many with leprosy in Israel in Elisha’s time, but none of them were cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian.”

28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue got heated.

29 They got up, ran Him out of town, and took Him to the edge of the hill the town was built on, trying to throw Him off.

30 But He walked right through the middle of them and went on His way.

Jesus Drives Out an Unclean Spirit

31 Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath.

32 They were amazed at His teaching, because His words carried authority.

33 In the synagogue, there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he shouted loud,

34 “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are You here to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God.”

35 Jesus shut it down: “Be quiet. Come out of him.” The demon threw the man down in front of everyone and came out without harming him.

36 Everybody was stunned, saying to each other, “What kind of authority is this, He commands unclean spirits, and they come out.”

37 News about Him spread into every place around there.

Jesus Heals Many

38 Jesus left the synagogue and went into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was down bad with a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.

39 He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. Right away she got up and started serving them.

40 When the sun went down, people brought everyone who was sick with all kinds of diseases. He laid His hands on each one and healed them.

41 Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But He rebuked them and would not let them speak, because they knew He was the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in Other Towns

42 At daybreak, Jesus went out to a quiet place. The crowd went looking for Him, and when they found Him, they tried to hold Him there so He would not leave.

43 But He said, “I have to preach the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns too, that is why I was sent.”

44 And He kept preaching in the synagogues throughout Judea.