Luke 4 is the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bible, traditionally attributed to Luke the Evangelist, a companion of

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

on his missionary journeys. This chapter details Jesus' three temptations, the start of his "

Galilean Generically, a Galilean (; he, גלילי; grc, Γαλιλαίων; la, Galilaeos) is an inhabitant of Galilee, a region of Israel surrounding the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret). The New Testament notes that the Apostle Peter's accent gave him a ...

Ministry", and his rejection at

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

, which

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

contrasts with his acclaim in nearby Capernaum.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek and is divided into 44 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 4 (AD 150-175; extant verses: 1-2, 29-32, 34-35) * Codex Vaticanus (325-350) * Codex Sinaiticus (330-360) * Codex Bezae (~400) * Codex Washingtonianus (~400) * Codex Alexandrinus (400-440) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) designated by the siglum C or 04 {in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 3 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a ma ...

(~450; extant verses 26-44) *

Papyrus 7 Papyrus 7 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), or ε 11 ( von Soden), designated by , is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Luke 4:1-2. Possibly it is a patristic fragment (like e.g. P. Oxy. 4 ...

(4th-6th century; extant verses 1-2)

Old Testament references

*: * : Psalm * : Isaiah 61:1– 2

Jesus' three temptations (4:1-13)

Jesus, as in Matthew 4 and Mark 1, travels into the desert and

fasts Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see "Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after com ...

for forty days. He is confronted by

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

, who tempts (or tests) him. 'Tested' is the preferred wording of several modern translations, e.g. the Contemporary English Version, Expanded Bible and New Testament for Everyone. *First, Satan commands him to turn stones into bread. Jesus replies "Man does not live on bread alone"
4
quoting

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

from Deuteronomy 8:3: ''Man shall not live by bread alone''. The words ''but by every word of God'', which reflect the Deuteronomy text (''by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD''), are added in the Textus Receptus but absent from critical texts of the

Greek New Testament Greek New Testament refers to the New Testament in Koine Greek. It may also refer to the following texts: * ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' * ''Textus Receptus'', the basis of the King James Bible * ''Novum Testamentum Graece'', a critical edition of t ...

. *Secondly, Satan shows Jesus "... all the kingdoms of the world"
5
and tells him that he can have them all if he falls down and worships him. Jesus replies with a further quote from Deuteronom
6:13
"It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
8
*Finally, Satan takes Jesus to the top of the Temple of Jerusalem and quotes Psalmbr>91:11-12
as a criterion for a test of favor with God, to which Jesus quotes Deuteronom
6:16
"... Do not put the Lord your God to the test."
12
. This narrative is also found in Matthew 4:1– 11, but in Matthew the order of the second and third temptations is reversed. This was most probably in Q if that hypothesis is correct; perhaps their copies of Q were in a different order? This difference in orders presents a challenge for

redaction Redaction is a form of editing in which multiple sources of texts are combined and altered slightly to make a single document. Often this is a method of collecting a series of writings on a similar theme and creating a definitive and coherent wo ...

al criticism. It is unclear whether in Q, if it existed, the order was originally the same as Luke's and Matthew changed it to have it end on a mountain, a common motif of Matthew, such as Matthew 5:1 and Matthew 28:16, or Luke changed it to have the temptations end in Jerusalem. Luke ends his gospel in Jerusalem in

Luke 24 Luke 24 is the twenty-fourth and final chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke the Evangelist composed th ...

. Most scholars believe Matthew's order was the order Q used.

Verse 13

Luke then says that Satan left Jesus "for a season" or "until an opportune time". Satan appears later in

Luke 22 Luke 22 is the twenty-second chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It commences in the days just before the Passover or Feast of Unleavened Bread, and records the plot to kill Jesus Christ; the institution of t ...

, entering Judas and leading him to betray Jesus. Brown sees his return in when Jesus says to those arresting him "But this is your hour — when darkness reigns". Commentary writer

Frederic Farrar Frederic William Farrar (Bombay, 7 August 1831 – Canterbury, 22 March 1903) was a cleric of the Church of England (Anglican), schoolteacher and author. He was a pallbearer at the funeral of Charles Darwin in 1882. He was a member of the Cambr ...

argues that this does not mean Jesus faced no other temptations during his life, quoting Bonaventure's view that "he endured temptations, too, at other times".Farrar, F. W. (1891)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
on Luke 4, accessed 23 May 2018

Rejection at Nazareth (4:14-30)

Jesus returns to

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

"in the power of the Spirit", says Luke, and teaches in many of the

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

s there. One

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

, he goes to the synagogue in his hometown of

, gets up and reads a section of the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

, Isaiah 61:1– 2, referring to himself as the fulfillment of this prophecy. Luke's text uses the Septuagint version, but the version Jesus read would have been in Hebrew. The people are amazed at his assertion, but Jesus goes on the rebuke them, saying "I tell you the truth ... no prophet is accepted in his hometown."

Verses 25–30

:''But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.'' He tells them how in the time of Elijah only a woman from Sidon (the

widow of Zarephath A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can s ...

) was saved ( verses 25–26), and during the time of

Elisha Elisha ( ; or "God is my salvation", Greek: , ''Elis îos'' or , ''Elisaié,'' Latin: ''Eliseus'') was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eli ...

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

(

Naaman Naaman ( he, נַעֲמָן ''Naʿămān'', "pleasantness") the Aramean was a commander of the armies of Ben-Hadad II, the king of Aram-Damascus, in the time of Joram, king of Israel. According to the Bible, Naaman was a commander of the army o ...

) was healed (verse 27). Outraged, the people attack him and chase him to the top of a hill and try to throw him off, but Jesus slips away through the crowd and continues "on his way". There are many hills in and around Nazareth, although the Upper Galilee region, further to the north, is more mountainous. Traditionally this event has been associated with

Mount Precipice Mount Precipice ( he, הר הקפיצה, "''Har HaKfitsa''"; ar, جبل القفزة, "''Jebel al-Qafzeh''", "Mount of the Leap"), also known as Mount of Precipitation, Mount of the Leap of the Lord and Mount Kedumim is located just outside the ...

(also known as the Mount of Precipitation), some from Nazareth, but scholars now argue that this is unlikely to have been the venue because it is further than a Sabbath day's walk from the city. Eric Franklin notes that Jesus' continuation "on his way" denotes not just his escape from peril but a movement towards his goal, Luke using the same verb, ἐπορεύετο, ''eporeueto'', as he uses in , πορευεσθαι, ''poreuesthai'', to indicate his steadfast journey towards Jerusalem. The event is perhaps also depicted, though not word for word, in Markbr>6:1-6
and Matthe
13:53-58

Teaching and healing (4:31-41)

Jesus goes to Capernaum and exorcises a possessed man in the synagogue, the first of Luke's 21 miracles. He goes to Simon's house and heals his sick mother-in-law. Mark 1 has this occur after Jesus called his disciples, while Luke puts that event into

chapter 5 Chapter five refers to a fifth chapter, but the term may also refer to: Albums * Chapter 5: Letter, a 2002 album by g.o.d. * Chapter 5: Underrated, a Syleena Johnson album, 2011 * ''Chapter V'' (Staind album), 2005 * ''Chapter V'' (Trey Songz albu ...

. He heals more and more people, then retreats to the wilderness for solitary prayer. They come and find him there but he tells them that he must also go to the surrounding towns, where he is to travel and preach the good news of the

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" b ...

, "because that is why I was sent". This section, , is almost exactly the same as Mark and can also be partially found in .

Johann Bengel Johann Albrecht Bengel (24 June 1687 – 2 November 1752), also known as ''Bengelius'', was a Lutheran pietist clergyman and Greek-language scholar known for his edition of the Greek New Testament and his commentaries on it. Life and career Be ...

notes: Here is Jesus’ "Creed": the reason for His many journeyings".

Jesus preaches in Galilee (4:42-44)

In verse 44, Luke affirms that Jesus continued preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. Some ancient manuscripts ( א, B, C, L and other uncials) refer to τὰς συναγωγὰς τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ''tas synagōgas tēs Ioudaias'', the synagogues of Judea. Nestle, E.
Luke 4
cf. : NIV translation

References

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Gospel of Luke Luke 04 Phoenicians in the New Testament Temptation of Christ