Luke 4:1–6:26

Jesus Is Tempted by the Devil

4Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. The Spirit led Jesus into the desert ²where the devil tempted Jesus for forty days. Jesus ate nothing during that time, and when those days were ended, he was very hungry.

³The devil said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, tell this rock to become bread.”

⁴Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures: ‘A person does not live on bread alone.’ ” ⁿ

⁵Then the devil took Jesus and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. ⁶The devil said to Jesus, “I will give you all these kingdoms and all their power and glory. It has all been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. ⁷If you worship me, then it will all be yours.”

⁸Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures: ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’ ” ⁿ

⁹Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on a high place of the Temple. He said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, jump down. ¹⁰It is written in the Scriptures:

‘He has put his angels in charge of you

to watch over you.’

¹¹It is also written:

‘They will catch you in their hands

so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’ ”

¹²Jesus answered, “But it also says in the Scriptures: ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’ ” ⁿ

¹³After the devil had tempted Jesus in every way, he left him to wait until a better time.

Jesus Teaches the People

¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit, and stories about him spread all through the area. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶Jesus traveled to Nazareth, where he had grown up. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, as he always did, and stood up to read. ¹⁷The book of Isaiah the prophet was given to him. He opened the book and found the place where this is written:

¹⁸“The Lord has put his Spirit in me,

because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to tell the captives they are free

and to tell the blind that they can see again.

God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly

¹⁹and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness.”

²⁰Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the assistant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue was watching Jesus closely. ²¹He began to say to them, “While you heard these words just now, they were coming true!”

²²All the people spoke well of Jesus and were amazed at the words of grace he spoke. They asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

²³Jesus said to them, “I know that you will tell me the old saying: ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ You want to say, ‘We heard about the things you did in Capernaum. Do those things here in your own town!’ ” ²⁴Then Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown. ²⁵But I tell you the truth, there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah. It did not rain in Israel for three and one-half years, and there was no food anywhere in the whole country. ²⁶But Elijah was sent to none of those widows, only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon. ²⁷And there were many with skin diseases living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed, only Naaman, who was from the country of Syria.”

²⁸When all the people in the synagogue heard these things, they became very angry. ²⁹They got up, forced Jesus out of town, and took him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the edge, ³⁰but Jesus walked through the crowd and went on his way.

Jesus Forces Out an Evil Spirit

³¹Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and on the Sabbath day, he taught the people. ³²They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. ³³In the synagogue a man who had within him an evil spirit shouted in a loud voice, ³⁴“Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!”

³⁵Jesus commanded the evil spirit, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down to the ground before all the people and then left the man without hurting him.

³⁶The people were amazed and said to each other, “What does this mean? With authority and power he commands evil spirits, and they come out.” ³⁷And so the news about Jesus spread to every place in the whole area.

Jesus Heals Many People

³⁸Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. ⁿ Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹He came to her side and commanded the fever to leave. It left her, and immediately she got up and began serving them.

⁴⁰When the sun went down, the people brought those who were sick to Jesus. Putting his hands on each sick person, he healed every one of them. ⁴¹Demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But Jesus commanded the demons and would not allow them to speak, because they knew Jesus was the Christ.

⁴²At daybreak, Jesus went to a lonely place, but the people looked for him. When they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving. ⁴³But Jesus said to them, “I must preach about God’s kingdom to other towns, too. This is why I was sent.”

⁴⁴Then he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. ⁿ

Jesus’ First Followers

5One day while Jesus was standing beside Lake Galilee, many people were pressing all around him to hear the word of God. ²Jesus saw two boats at the shore of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³Jesus got into one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, ⁿ and asked him to push off a little from the land. Then Jesus sat down and continued to teach the people from the boat.

⁴When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Take the boat into deep water, and put your nets in the water to catch some fish.”

⁵Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night trying to catch fish, and we caught nothing. But you say to put the nets in the water, so I will.” ⁶When the fishermen did as Jesus told them, they caught so many fish that the nets began to break. ⁷They called to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full that they were almost sinking.

⁸When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he bowed down before Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man!” ⁹He and the other fishermen were amazed at the many fish they caught, as were ¹⁰James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹When the men brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Jesus Heals a Sick Man

¹²When Jesus was in one of the towns, there was a man covered with a skin disease. When he saw Jesus, he bowed before him and begged him, “Lord, you can heal me if you will.”

¹³Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, “I will. Be healed!” Immediately the disease disappeared. ¹⁴Then Jesus said, “Don’t tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest ⁿ and offer a gift for your healing, as Moses commanded. ⁿ This will show the people what I have done.”

¹⁵But the news about Jesus spread even more. Many people came to hear Jesus and to be healed of their sicknesses, ¹⁶but Jesus often slipped away to be alone so he could pray.

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

¹⁷One day as Jesus was teaching the people, the Pharisees and teachers of the law from every town in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem were there. The Lord was giving Jesus the power to heal people. ¹⁸Just then, some men were carrying on a mat a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and put him down before Jesus. ¹⁹But because there were so many people there, they could not find a way in. So they went up on the roof and lowered the man on his mat through the ceiling into the middle of the crowd right before Jesus. ²⁰Seeing their faith, Jesus said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹The Jewish teachers of the law and the Pharisees thought to themselves, “Who is this man who is speaking as if he were God? Only God can forgive sins.”

²²But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why are you thinking these things? ²³Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? ²⁴But I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, stand up, take your mat, and go home.”

²⁵At once the man stood up before them, picked up his mat, and went home, praising God. ²⁶All the people were fully amazed and began to praise God. They were filled with much respect and said, “Today we have seen amazing things!”

Levi Follows Jesus

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax collector’s booth. Jesus said to him, “Follow me!” ²⁸So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

²⁹Then Levi gave a big dinner for Jesus at his house. Many tax collectors and other people were eating there, too. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the men who taught the law for the Pharisees began to complain to Jesus’ followers, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to invite good people but sinners to change their hearts and lives.”

Jesus Answers a Question

³³They said to Jesus, “John’s followers often fast ⁿ for a certain time and pray, just as the Pharisees do. But your followers eat and drink all the time.”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is still with them. ³⁵But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

³⁶Jesus told them this story: “No one takes cloth off a new coat to cover a hole in an old coat. Otherwise, he ruins the new coat, and the cloth from the new coat will not be the same as the old cloth. ³⁷Also, no one…