Luke 4–6

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

The First Disciples

5As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, ⁿHe was standing by Lake Gennesaret. ^op2He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; ^qthe fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, ^rwhich belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then He sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.

⁴When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down ^syour nets for a catch.” ^t

⁵“Master,” ^uSimon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing! But at Your word, I’ll let down the nets.” ^v

⁶When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets ^wbegan to tear. ⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” ^x9For he and all those with him were amazed ^yzat the catch of fish they took, ¹⁰and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.

“Don’t be afraid,” ^aJesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people!” ^b11Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed Him. ^c

A Man Cleansed

¹²While He was in one of the towns, a man was there who had a serious skin disease all over him. ^dHe saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged Him: “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

¹³Reaching out His hand, He touched him, ^esaying, “I am willing; be made clean,” and immediately the disease left him. ¹⁴Then He ordered him to tell no one: ^f“But go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses prescribed for your cleansing as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵But the news ^gabout Him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶Yet He often withdrew to deserted places and prayed. ^h

The Son of Man Forgives and Heals

¹⁷On one of those days while He was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law ⁱwere sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in Him. ^j18Just then some men came, ^kcarrying on a mat a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and set him down before Him. ¹⁹Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the mat through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.

²⁰Seeing their faith He said, “Friend, ^lyour sins are forgiven you.”

²¹Then the scribes and the Pharisees ^mbegan to think: “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁿ

²²But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? ^o23Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴But so you may know that the ^•Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

²⁵Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. ^p26Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe ^qand said, “We have seen incredible things today!”

The Call of Matthew

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, ^rand He said to him, “Follow Me!” ²⁸So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him.

Dining with Sinners

²⁹Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for Him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests ^swith them. ^t30But the Pharisees and their scribes ^uwere complaining to His disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹Jesus replied to them, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

A Question about Fasting

³³Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples fast often and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ^v

³⁴Jesus said to them, “You can’t make the wedding guests ^wfast while the groom is with them, can you? ³⁵But the time ^xwill come ^ywhen the groom will be taken away from them—then they will fast in those days.”

³⁶He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old. ³⁷And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸But new wine should be…