Luke 4-5

Contemporary English Version

Jesus and the Devil

(Matthew 4.1-11; Mark 1.12,13)

4 When Jesus returned from the Jordan River, the power of the Holy Spirit was with him, and the Spirit led him into the desert. ²For 40 days Jesus was tested by the devil, and during that time he went without eating.^[a] When it was all over, he was hungry.

³The devil said to Jesus, “If you are God's Son, tell this stone to turn into bread.”

⁴^(A) Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say, ‘No one can live only on food.’ ”

⁵Then the devil led Jesus up to a high place and quickly showed him all the nations on earth. ⁶The devil said, “I will give all this power and glory to you. It has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷Just worship me, and you can have it all.”

⁸^(B) Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say:

‘Worship the Lord your God
and serve only him!’ ”

⁹Finally, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and had him stand on top of the temple. The devil said, “If you are God's Son, jump off. ^10-11^(C) The Scriptures say:

‘God will tell his angels
    to take care of you.
They will catch you
    in their arms,
and you will not even hurt
    your feet on the stones.’ ”

¹²^(D) Jesus answered, “The Scriptures also say, ‘Don't try to test the Lord your God!’ ”

¹³After the devil had finished testing Jesus in every way possible, he left him for a while.

Jesus Begins His Work

(Matthew 4.12-17; Mark 1.14,15)

¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee with the power of the Spirit. News about him spread everywhere. ¹⁵He taught in the Jewish synagogues, and everyone praised him.

The People of Nazareth Turn against Jesus

(Matthew 13.53-58; Mark 6.1-6)

¹⁶Jesus went back to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as usual he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. When he stood up to read from the Scriptures, ¹⁷he was given the book of Isaiah the prophet. He opened it and read,

¹⁸^(E) “The Lord's Spirit
    has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news
    to the poor.
The Lord has sent me
to announce freedom
    for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone
    who suffers,
¹⁹and to say, ‘This is the year
    the Lord has chosen.’ ”

²⁰Jesus closed the book, then handed it back to the man in charge and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue looked straight at Jesus.

²¹Then Jesus said to them, “What you have just heard me read has come true today.”

²²All the people started talking about Jesus and were amazed at the wonderful things he said. They kept on asking, “Isn't he Joseph's son?”

²³Jesus answered:

You will certainly want to tell me this saying, “Doctor, first make yourself well.” You will tell me to do the same things here in my own hometown that you heard I did in Capernaum. ²⁴^(F) But you can be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown.

²⁵^(G) Once during the time of Elijah there was no rain for three and a half years, and people everywhere were starving. There were many widows in Israel, ²⁶^(H) but Elijah was sent only to a widow in the town of Zarephath near the city of Sidon. ²⁷^(I) During the time of the prophet Elisha, many men in Israel had leprosy.^[b] But no one was healed, except Naaman who lived in Syria.

²⁸When the people in the synagogue heard Jesus say this, they became so angry ²⁹that they got up and threw him out of town. They dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built, because they wanted to throw him down from there. ³⁰But Jesus slipped through the crowd and got away.

A Man with an Evil Spirit

(Mark 1.21-28)

³¹Jesus went to the town of Capernaum in Galilee and taught the people on the Sabbath. ³²^(J) His teaching amazed them because he spoke with power. ³³There in the synagogue was a man with an evil spirit. He yelled out, ³⁴“Hey, Jesus of Nazareth, what do you want with us? Are you here to get rid of us? I know who you are! You are God's Holy One.”

³⁵Jesus ordered the evil spirit to be quiet and come out. The demon threw the man to the ground in front of everyone and left without harming him.

³⁶They all were amazed and kept saying to each other, “What kind of teaching is this? He has power to order evil spirits out of people!” ³⁷News about Jesus spread all over that part of the country.

Jesus Heals Many People

(Matthew 8.14-17; Mark 1.29-34)

³⁸Jesus left the synagogue and went to Simon's home. When Jesus got there, he was told that Simon's mother-in-law was sick with a high fever. ³⁹So Jesus went over to her and ordered the fever to go away. Right then she was able to get up and serve them a meal.

⁴⁰After the sun had set, people with all kinds of diseases were brought to Jesus. He put his hands on each one of them and healed them. ⁴¹Demons went out of many people and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus ordered the demons not to speak because they knew he was the Messiah.

⁴²The next morning Jesus went out to a place where he could be alone, and crowds came looking for him. When they found him, they tried to stop him from leaving. ⁴³But Jesus said, “People in other towns must hear the good news about God's kingdom. This is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴So he kept on preaching in the synagogues in Judea.^[c]

Jesus Chooses His First Disciples

(Matthew 4.18-22; Mark 1.16-20)

5 ^(K) Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret,^[d] teaching the people as they crowded around him to hear God's message. ²Near the shore he saw two boats left there by some fishermen who had gone to wash their nets. ³Jesus got into the boat that belonged to Simon and asked him to row it out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down^[e] in the boat to teach the crowd.

⁴When Jesus had finished speaking, he told Simon, “Row the boat out into the deep water and let your nets down to catch some fish.”

⁵^(L) “Master,” Simon answered, “we have worked hard all night long and have not caught a thing. But if you tell me to, I will let the nets down.” ⁶^(M) They did this and caught so many fish that their nets began ripping apart. ⁷Then they signaled for their partners in the other boat to come and help them. The men came, and together they filled the two boats so full that they both began to sink.

⁸When Simon Peter saw this happen, he knelt down in front of Jesus and said, “Lord, don't come near me! I am a sinner.” ⁹Peter and everyone with him were completely surprised at all the fish they had caught. ¹⁰His partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were surprised too.

Jesus told Simon, “Don't be afraid! From now on you will bring in people instead of fish.” ¹¹The men pulled their boats up on the shore. Then they left everything and went with Jesus.

Jesus Heals a Man

(Matthew 8.1-4; Mark 1.40-45)

¹²Jesus came to a town where there was a man who had leprosy.^[f] When the man saw Jesus, he knelt down to the ground in front of Jesus and begged, “Lord, you have the power to make me well, if only you wanted to.”

¹³Jesus put his hand on him and said, “I want to! Now you are well.” At once the man's leprosy disappeared. ¹⁴^(N) Jesus told him, “Don't tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest. Offer a gift to the priest, just as Moses commanded, and everyone will know that you have been healed.”^[g]

¹⁵News about Jesus kept spreading. Large crowds came to listen to him teach and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁶But Jesus would often go to some place where he could be alone and pray.

Jesus Heals a Man Who Could Not Walk

(Matthew 9.1-8; Mark 2.1-12)

¹⁷One day some Pharisees and experts in the Law of Moses sat listening to Jesus teach. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.

God had given Jesus the power to heal the sick, ¹⁸and some people came carrying a man on a mat because he could not walk. They tried to take him inside the house and put him in front of Jesus. ¹⁹But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they went up on the roof,^[h] where they removed some tiles and let the mat down in the middle of the room.

²⁰When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹The Pharisees and the experts began arguing, “Jesus must think he is God! Only God can forgive sins.”

²²Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said, “Why are you thinking this? ²³Is it easier for me to tell this man that his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk? ²⁴But now you will see that the Son of Man has the right to forgive sins here on earth.” Jesus then said to the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk home.”

²⁵At once the man stood up in front of everyone. He picked up his mat and went home, giving thanks to God. ²⁶Everyone was amazed and praised God. What they saw surprised them, and they said, “We have seen a great miracle today!”

Jesus Chooses Levi

(Matthew 9.9-13; Mark 2.13-17)

²⁷Later, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector^[i] named Levi sitting at the place for paying taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸Levi left everything and went with Jesus.

²⁹In his home Levi gave a big dinner for Jesus. Many tax collectors and other guests were also there.

³⁰^(O) The Pharisees and some of their teachers of the Law of Moses grumbled to Jesus' disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with these tax collectors and other sinners?”

³¹Jesus answered, “Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do. ³²I didn't come to invite good people to turn to God. I came to invite sinners.”

People Ask about Going without Eating

(Matthew 9.14-17; Mark 2.18-22)

³³Some people said to Jesus, “John's followers often pray and go without eating,^[j] and so do the followers of the Pharisees. But your disciples never go without eating or drinking.”

³⁴Jesus told them, “The friends of a bridegroom don't go without eating while he is still with them. ³⁵But the time will come when he will be taken from them. Then they will go without eating.”

³⁶Jesus then told them these sayings:

No one uses a new piece of cloth to patch old clothes. The patch would shrink and make the hole even bigger.

³⁷No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The new wine would swell and burst the old skins.^[k] Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. ³⁸New wine must be put only into new wineskins.

³⁹No one wants new wine after drinking old wine. They say, “The old wine is better.”

Footnotes

4.2 went without eating: See the note at 2.37.
4.27 leprosy: In biblical times the word “leprosy” was used for many different kinds of skin diseases.
4.44 Judea: Some manuscripts have “Galilee.”
5.1 Lake Gennesaret: Another name for Lake Galilee.
5.3 sat down: Teachers in the ancient world, including Jewish teachers, usually sat down when they taught.
5.12 leprosy: See the note at 4.27.
5.14 everyone will know that you have been healed: People with leprosy had to be examined by a priest and told they were well (that is, “clean”) before they could once again live a normal life in the Jewish community. The gift that Moses commanded was the sacrifice of some lambs together with flour mixed with olive oil.
5.19 roof: In Palestine the houses usually had a flat roof. Stairs on the outside led up to the roof, which was made of beams and boards covered with packed earth. Luke says that the roof was made of (clay) tiles, which were also used for making roofs in New Testament times.
5.27 tax collector: See the note at 3.12.
5.33 without eating: See the note at 2.37.
5.37 swell and burst the old skins: While the juice from grapes was becoming wine, it would swell and stretch the skins in which it had been stored. If the skins were old and stiff, they would burst.