Luke 3–4

John the Baptist Begins His Ministry

3Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,^a when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, ²in the time of the high priest Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³And he went into all the surrounding region of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight!

⁵Every valley will be filled,

and every mountain and hill will be leveled,

and the crooked will become straight,

and the rough road will become^* smooth,

⁶and all flesh will see the salvation of God.’ ”^b

⁷Therefore he was saying to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁹And even now the ax is positioned at the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰And the crowds were asking him, saying, “What then should we do?” ¹¹And he answered and^* said to them, “The one who has two tunics must share with the one who does not have one,^* and the one who has food must do likewise.” ¹²And tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you are ordered to.”^{c 14}And those who served in the army were also asking him, saying, “What should we also do?” And he said to them, “Extort from no one, and do not blackmail anyone,^* and be content with your pay.”

¹⁵And while^* the people were waiting expectantly and all were pondering in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ,^{d 16}John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than I am is coming, of whom I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing shovel is in his hand, to clean out his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸So with many other exhortations also he proclaimed good news to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him concerning Herodias, his brother’s wife, and concerning all the evil deeds that Herod had done, ²⁰added this also to them all: he also locked up John in prison.

The Baptism of Jesus

²¹Now it happened that when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized, and while he^* was praying, heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

²³And Jesus, when he^* began his ministry,^* was himself about thirty years old, being the son (as it was believed) of Joseph the son of Eli, ²⁴the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, ²⁵the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, ²⁷the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, ²⁹the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, ³¹the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³²the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, ³³the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,^{e 36}the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

The Temptation of Jesus

4And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ²forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days, and when^* they were completed, he was hungry. ³So the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, order this stone that it become bread!” ⁴And Jesus replied to him, “It is written, ‘Man will not live on bread alone.’ ”^a

⁵And he led him up and^* showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶And the devil said to him, “I will give you all this domain and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I can give it to whomever I want. ⁷So if you will worship before me, all this will be yours.” ⁸And Jesus answered and^* said to him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”^b

⁹And he brought him to Jerusalem, and had him stand on the highest point 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 command his angels concerning you,

to protect you,’^c

¹¹and

‘on their hands they will lift you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”^d

¹²And Jesus answered and^* said to him, “It is said, ‘You are not to put to the test the Lord your God.’ ”^{e 13}And when^* the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a favorable time.^f

Public Ministry in Galilee

¹⁴And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him went out throughout all the surrounding region. ¹⁵And he began to teach^* in their synagogues, and^* was praised by all.

Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁶And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up,^g and according to his custom^h he entered into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath and stood up to read. ¹⁷And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll he found the place where it was written,

¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because of which he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me

to proclaim release to the captives,

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to send out in freedom those who are oppressed,

¹⁹to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”ⁱ

²⁰And he rolled up the scroll and^* gave it^* back to the attendant and^* sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were looking intently at him. ²¹And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²²And they were all speaking well of him, and were astonished at the gracious words that were coming out of his mouth. And they were saying, “Is this man not the son of Joseph?” ²³And he said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ Whatever we have heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in your hometown also!” ²⁴And he said, “Truly I say to you that no prophet is acceptable in his own hometown. ²⁵But in truth I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months while a great famine took place over all the land. ²⁶And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was made clean except Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸And all those in the synagogue were filled with anger when they^* heard these things. ²⁹And they stood up and^* forced him out of the town and brought him up to the edge of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. ³⁰But he passed through their midst and^* went on his way.

Jesus Teaches and Heals Many in Capernaum

³¹And he came down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath. ³²And they were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke^j with authority.

³³And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon,^k and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴“Ha! Leave us alone,^l Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” ³⁵And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And after^* throwing him down in their midst, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all. ³⁶And amazement came upon them all, and they began to talk^* with one another, saying, “What word^m is this? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!” ³⁷And news about him went out into every place of the surrounding region.

³⁸And after he^* set out from the synagogue, he went into Simon’s house. And Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a high fever, and they asked him on behalf of her. ³⁹And he stood over her and^* rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she got up and^* began to serve^* them.

⁴⁰Now as^* the sun was setting, all who had those who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and placing his^* hands on every one of them, he healed them. ⁴¹And demons also were coming out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Son of God!” And he rebuked them^* and did not permit them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.ⁿ

⁴²And when it^* was day, he departed …