Knox Bible

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Jesus returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit, and by the Spirit he was led on into the wilderness,

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where he remained forty days, tempted by the devil. During those days he ate nothing, and when they were over, he was hungry.

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Then the devil said to him, If thou art the Son of God, bid this stone turn into a loaf of bread.

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Jesus answered him, It is written, Man cannot live by bread only; there is life for him in all the words that come from God.✻

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And the devil led him up on to a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time;

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I will give thee command, the devil said to him, over all these, and the glory that belongs to them; they have been made over to me, and I may give them to whomsoever I please;

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come then, all shall be thine, if thou wilt fall down before me and worship.

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Jesus answered him, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God; to him only shalt thou do service.✻

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And he led him to Jerusalem, and there set him down on the pinnacle of the temple; If thou art the Son of God, he said to him, cast thyself down from this to the earth;

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for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee safe,

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and they will hold thee up with their hands, lest thou shouldst chance to trip on a stone.✻

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And Jesus answered him, We are told, Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the proof.✻

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So the devil, when he had finished tempting him every way, left him in peace until the time should come.✻

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And Jesus came back to Galilee with the power of the Spirit upon him; word of him went round through all the neighbouring country,

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and he began to preach in their synagogues, so that his praise was on all men’s lips.

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Then he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went into the synagogue there, as his custom was, on the sabbath day, and stood up to read.

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The book given to him was the book of the prophet Isaias; so he opened it, and found the place where the words ran:

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The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has anointed me, and sent me out to preach the gospel to the poor, to restore the broken-hearted;

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to bid the prisoners go free, and the blind have sight; to set the oppressed at liberty, to proclaim a year when men may find acceptance with the Lord, a day of retribution.✻

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Then he shut the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All those who were in the synagogue fixed their eyes on him,

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and thus he began speaking to them, This scripture which I have read in your hearing is to-day fulfilled.

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All bore testimony to him, and were astonished at the gracious words which came from his mouth; Why, they said, is not this the son of Joseph?

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Then he said to them, No doubt you will tell me, as the proverb says, Physician, heal thyself; do here in thy own country all that we have heard of thy doing at Capharnaum.

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And he said, Believe me, no prophet finds acceptance in his own country.✻

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Why, you may be sure of this, there were many widows among the people of Israel in the days of Elias, when a great famine came over all the land, after the heavens had remained shut for three years and six months,

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but Elias was not sent to any of these. He was sent to a widow woman in Sarepta, which belongs to Sidon.✻

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And there were many lepers among the people of Israel in the days of the prophet Eliseus; but it was none of them, it was Naaman the Syrian, who was made clean.✻

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All those who were in the synagogue were full of indignation at hearing this;

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they rose up and thrust him out of the city, and took him up to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, to throw him over it.

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But he passed through the midst of them, and so went on his way.

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Then he went down to Capharnaum, which is a city in Galilee, and began teaching them there on the sabbath;

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and they were amazed by his teaching, such was the authority with which he spoke.

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In the synagogue was a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit, that cried out with a loud voice:

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Nay, why dost thou meddle with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Hast thou come to make an end of us? I recognize thee for what thou art, the Holy One of God.

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Jesus rebuked it; Silence! he said; come out of him. Then the unclean spirit threw him into a convulsion before them all, and went out of him without doing him any injury.

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Wonder fell upon them all, as they said to one another, What is this word of his? See how he has authority and power to lay his command on the unclean spirits, so that they come out!

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And the story of his doings spread into every part of the country-side.✻

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So he rose up and left the synagogue, and went into Simon’s house. The mother of Simon’s wife was in the grip of a violent fever, and they entreated his aid for her.

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He stood over her, and checked the fever, so that it left her; all at once she rose, and ministered to them.

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And when the sun was going down, all those who had friends afflicted with diseases of any kind brought them to him: and he laid his hands upon each one of them, and healed them.

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Many, too, had devils cast out of them, which cried aloud, Thou art the Son of God; but he rebuked them and would not have them speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.✻

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Then, when day came, he went out and retired to a desert place. The multitude, who had set out in search of him and caught him up, would have kept him there, and not let him leave them.

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But he told them, I must preach the gospel of God’s kingdom to the other cities too; it is for this that I was sent.

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And so he went on preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.✻