Then the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to turn into bread.” Jesus replied to him, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE.’ ” [Deut 8:3]
Then he led Jesus up [to a high mountain] and displayed before Him all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth [and their magnificence] in the twinkling of an eye. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this realm and its glory [its power, its renown]; because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it will all be Yours.” Jesus replied to him, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE ONLY HIM.’ ” [Deut 6:13; 10:20]
Then he led Jesus to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle (highest point) of the temple, and said [mockingly] to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written and forever remains written,
‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD and PROTECT YOU,’
and,
‘THEY WILL LIFT YOU UP ON their HANDS,
SO THAT YOU DO NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ” [Ps 91:11, 12]
Jesus replied to him, “It is said [in Scripture], ‘YOU SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD [to prove Himself to you].’ ” [Deut 6:16; Matt 4:7]
When the devil had finished every temptation, he [temporarily] left Him until a more opportune time.
Then Jesus went back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread through the entire region. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised and glorified and honored by all.
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, [Is 61:1, 2]
“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME (the Messiah),
BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR.
HE HAS SENT ME TO ANNOUNCE RELEASE (pardon, forgiveness) TO THE CAPTIVES,
AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,
TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy),
TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD [the day when salvation and the favor of God abound greatly].” [Is 61:1, 2]
Then He rolled up the scroll [having stopped in the middle of the verse], gave it back to the attendant and sat down [to teach]; and the eyes of all those in the synagogue were [attentively] fixed on Him. He began speaking to them: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing and in your presence.” And [as He continued on] they all were speaking well of Him, and were in awe and were wondering about the words of grace which were coming from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” So He said to them, “You will no doubt quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal Yourself! Whatever [miracles] that we heard were done [by You] in Capernaum, do here in Your hometown as well.’ ” Then He said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But in truth I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was closed up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was not sent [by the Lord] to a single one of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. [1 Kin 17:1, 8-16; 18:1] And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and not one of them was cleansed [by being healed] except Naaman the Syrian.” [2 Kin 5:1-14] As they heard these things [about God’s grace to these two Gentiles], the people in the synagogue were filled with a great rage; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to hurl Him down the cliff. But passing [miraculously] through the crowd, He went on His way.
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