Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, came back from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness 2for forty days, tested by the devil. He ate nothing in 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 turn into bread.” 4Jesus answered him, “It is written: a human being will not live on bread alone.” 5Then the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant, 6and said to him, “I will give you all this authority and the splendor that goes with it, for it has been handed over to me and I give it to anyone I please. 7So if you will bow before me, it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written: you shall bow before the Lord your God, and serve him alone.” 9Then he took 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 put his angels in charge of you, to keep you safe; 11and: they will lift you on their hands, so that you never strike your foot against a stone.” 12Jesus answered him, “It has been said: you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” 13When the devil had exhausted every test, he left him until an opportune time.
Rejected at Nazareth
14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and word 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 he went into the synagogue as was his custom, and stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled it and found the place where it is written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release for the prisoners and sight for the blind, to set the battered 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. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. 21He began by telling them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22Everyone spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words coming from his mouth, and they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23He said to them, “No doubt you will quote me this proverb: ‘Doctor, cure yourself.’ Do here in your hometown what we have heard you did in Capernaum.” 24And he went on, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25In truth I tell you, 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 the whole land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them, only to a widow in Zarephath in the territory of Sidon. 27And there were many with skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; not one of them was cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian.” 28Everyone in the synagogue was filled with rage when they heard this. 29They got up, drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, meaning to throw him over the edge. 30But he walked right through the middle of them and went on his way.
Authority over Unclean Spirits
31He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and he taught them on the Sabbath. 32They were stunned at his teaching, because his word carried authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he screamed at the top of his voice, 34“Enough! 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!” 35Jesus rebuked him: “Be quiet, and come out of him.” The demon threw the man down in front of them all and came out without doing him any harm. 36Astonishment fell on everyone, and they said to one another, “What is this word? With authority and power he gives orders to unclean spirits, and out they come.” 37And the news about him spread to every corner of the surrounding region.
Healings at Sunset
38He left the synagogue and went into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was in the grip of a high fever, and they asked him about her. 39He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. 40At sunset all who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on each one and healed them. 41Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not let them speak, because they knew he was the Christ. 42At daybreak he went out to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they reached him they tried to keep him from leaving. 43But he told them, “I must announce the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, because that is what I was sent to do.” 44And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
