Luke 3–4

The Messiah’s Herald

3In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^vwhile Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, ^wHerod was tetrarch ^xof Galilee, ^yhis brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea ^zand Trachonitis, ^aand Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ^b2during the high priesthood of Annas ^cand Caiaphas, ^dGod’s word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ^e3He went into all the vicinity of the Jordan, ^fpreaching a baptism of repentance ^gfor the forgiveness of sins, ^h4as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

Prepare the way for the Lord;

make His paths straight!

⁵Every valley will be filled,

and every mountain and hill will be made low; ⁱ

the crooked will become straight,

the rough ways smooth,

⁶and everyone ^jwill see the salvation of God. ^kl

⁷He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! ^mWho warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁿ⁸Therefore produce fruit ^oconsistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ ^pfor I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁹Even now the ax is ready to strike ^qthe root of the trees! Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” ^r

¹⁰“What then should we do?” ^sthe crowds were asking him.

¹¹He replied to them, “The one who has two shirts ^tmust share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.” ^u

¹²Tax collectors ^valso came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ^w

¹³He told them, “Don’t collect any more than what you have been authorized.”

¹⁴Some soldiers also questioned him: “What should we do?”

He said to them, “Don’t take money from anyone by force or false accusation; be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵Now the people were waiting expectantly, and all of them were debating in their minds ^xwhether John might be the Messiah. ^y16John answered them all, ^z“I baptize you with ^awater, but One is coming who is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandals. He will baptize you with ^bthe Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing shovel ^cdis in His hand to clear His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, ^ebut the chaff He will burn up with a fire that never goes out.” ^f18Then, along with many other exhortations, he proclaimed good news to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, ^gbeing rebuked by him about Herodias, his brother’s wife, and about all the evil things Herod had done, ^h20added this to everything else—he locked John up in prison. ⁱ

The Baptism of Jesus

²¹When all the people were baptized, ^jJesus also was baptized. As He was praying, ^kheaven opened, ^l22and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven:

You are My beloved Son.

I take delight in You! ^m

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

²³As He began His ministry, Jesus was about 30 years old and was thought to be ⁿthe

son of Joseph, ^oson ^pof Heli,

²⁴son of Matthat, son of Levi,

son of Melchi, son of Jannai,

son of Joseph, ²⁵son of Mattathias,

son of Amos, son of Nahum,

son of Esli, son of Naggai,

²⁶son of Maath, son of Mattathias,

son of Semein, son of Josech,

son of Joda, ²⁷son of Joanan,

son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, ^q

son of Shealtiel, son of Neri,

²⁸son of Melchi, son of Addi,

son of Cosam, son of Elmadam,

son of Er, ²⁹son of Joshua,

son of Eliezer, son of Jorim,

son of Matthat, son of Levi,

³⁰son of Simeon, son of Judah,

son of Joseph, son of Jonam,

son of Eliakim, ³¹son of Melea,

son of Menna, son of Mattatha,

son of Nathan, son of David,

³²son of Jesse, ^rson of Obed, ^s

son of Boaz, son of Salmon, ^t

son of Nahshon, ³³son of Amminadab,

son of Ram, ^uson of Hezron,

son of Perez, ^vson of Judah,

³⁴son of Jacob, son of Isaac,

son of Abraham, ^wson of Terah,

son of Nahor, ³⁵son of Serug,

son of Reu, son of Peleg, ^x

son of Eber, son of Shelah,

³⁶son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad,

son of Shem, son of Noah, ^y

son of Lamech, ³⁷son of Methuselah,

son of Enoch, ^zson of Jared,

son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan,

³⁸son of Enos, son of Seth,

son of Adam, son of God.

The Temptation of Jesus

4Then Jesus ^areturned from the Jordan, ^bfull of the Holy Spirit, ^cand was led by the Spirit ^din the wilderness ²for 40 days ^eto be tempted by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, ^fHe was hungry. ³The Devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴But Jesus answered him, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone.” ^ghi

⁵So he took Him up ^jand showed Him all the kingdoms of the world ^kin a moment of time. ⁶The Devil said to Him, “I will give You their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, ^land I can give it to anyone I want. ⁷If You, then, will worship me, ^mall will be Yours.”

⁸And Jesus answered him, ⁿ“It is written:

Worship the Lord your God,

and serve ^oHim only.” ^p

⁹So he took Him to Jerusalem, had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰For it is written:

He will give His angels orders concerning you,

to protect you, ^qr11and

they will support you with their hands,

so that you will not strike

your foot against a stone.” ^st

¹²And Jesus answered him, “It is said: Do not test the Lord your God.” ^uv

¹³After the Devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him for a time.

Ministry in Galilee

¹⁴Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, ^wand news about Him spread throughout the entire vicinity. ^x15He was teaching in their synagogues, ^ybeing acclaimed ^zby everyone.

Rejection at Nazareth

¹⁶He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. ^aAs usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day ^band stood up to read. ^c17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written:

¹⁸The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,

because He has anointed Me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent Me ^d

to proclaim freedom ^e to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free the oppressed,

¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. ^fgh

²⁰He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. ⁱAnd the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” ^j

²²They were all speaking well of Him ^kand were amazed by the gracious words that came from His mouth, yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” ^l

²³Then He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb ^mto Me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. So all we’ve heard that took place in Capernaum, ⁿdo here in Your hometown also.’ ”

²⁴He also said, “^•I assure you: No prophet is accepted in his hometown. ^o25But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, ^pwhen the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. ²⁶Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them—but to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ^q27And in the prophet Elisha’s time, there were many in Israel who had serious skin diseases, yet not one of them was healed ^r—only Naaman the Syrian.” ^s

²⁸When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. ²⁹They got up, drove Him out of town, ^tand brought Him to the edge ^uof the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl Him over the cliff. ³⁰But He passed right through the crowd and went on His way. ^v

Driving Out an Unclean Spirit

³¹Then He went down to Capernaum, ^wa town in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath. ³²They were astonished at His teaching because His message had authority. ^x33In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice, ^y34“Leave us alone! ^zWhat do You have to do with us, ^aJesus—Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” ^b

³⁵But Jesus rebuked him ^cand said, “Be quiet and come out of him!” ^d

And throwing him down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all. ³⁶Amazement came over them all, and they kept saying to one another, “What is this message? For He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!” ³⁷And news about Him began to go out to every place in the vicinity.

Healings at Capernaum

³⁸After He left the synagogue, He entered Simon’s house. ^eSimon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him about her. ^f39So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately ^gand began to serve them.

⁴⁰When the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to Him. As He laid His hands on each one of them, He would heal them. ^h41Also, demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, “You are the Son of God!” ⁱBut He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew He was the Messiah. ^j

Preaching in Galilee

⁴²When it was day, He went out and made His way to a deserted place. ^kBut the crowds were searching for Him. They came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them. ⁴³But He said to them, “I must proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. ^lm