Luke 4

1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness

2for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry.

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

4Jesus answered him, “It is written: ‘A person will not live on bread alone.’”

5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

6The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to anyone I wish.

7So if you will worship me, it will all be yours.”

8Jesus answered him, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

9Then the devil brought him to Jerusalem, set him 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 guard you carefully,’

11and, ‘They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

12Jesus answered him, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

13When the devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune time.

14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole surrounding region.

15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,

17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free,

19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.

21He began by saying to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

22All of them spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

23He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown the things we heard you did in Capernaum.’”

24And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.

25But I tell you the truth: there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months and a great famine came over all the land.

26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to a widow at Zarephath in the region of Sidon.

27And there were many with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

28When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage.

29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.

30But he passed right through the middle of them and went on his way.

31Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people.

32They were astonished at his teaching, because his message had authority.

33In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

34“Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus the Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

35But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without harming him.

36Amazement came over all of them, and they said to one another, “What is this message? With authority and power he gives orders to the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

37And news about him spread to every place in the surrounding region.

38After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him to help her.

39He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to serve them.

40As the sun was setting, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each one of them and healed them.

41Demons also came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

42At daybreak he left and went to a deserted place. The crowds were looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to keep him from leaving them.

43But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is why I was sent.”

44And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.