The Temptation of Jesus

4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around ^[a]by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. ³ And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” ⁴ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

⁵ And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of ^[b]the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and ^[c]its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore if You ^[d]worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” ⁸ Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

⁹ And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; ¹⁰ for it is written,

¹¹ and,

¹² And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

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

Jesus’ Public Ministry

¹⁴ And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. ¹⁵ And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶ And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the ^[e]book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the ^[f]book and found the place where it was written,

²⁰ And He closed the ^[g]book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ^[h]hearing.” ²² And all were ^[i]speaking well of Him, and wondering at the ^[j]gracious words which ^[k]were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” ²³ And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. ²⁵ But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; ²⁶ and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to ^[l]Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; ²⁹ and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. ³⁰ But passing through their midst, He went His way.

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

14 Then some elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ³ “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord ^[a]God, “Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in ^[b]the matter in view of the multitude of his idols, ⁵ in order to lay hold of ^[c]the hearts of the house of Israel who are ^[d]estranged from Me through all their idols.”’

⁶ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations. ⁷ For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will be brought to answer him in My own person. ⁸ I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and ^[e]a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the Lord.

⁹ “But if the prophet is ^[f]prevailed upon to speak a word, it is I, the Lord, who have ^[g]prevailed upon that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. ¹⁰ They will bear the punishment of their iniquity; as the iniquity of the inquirer is, so the iniquity of the prophet will be, ¹¹ in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God,”’ declares the Lord God.”

The City Will Not Be Spared

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹³ “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, ^[h]destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, ¹⁴ even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ “If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they ^[i]depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, ¹⁶ though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. ¹⁷ Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it,’ ¹⁸ even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. ¹⁹ Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, ²⁰ even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹ For thus says the Lord God, “How much more when I send My four ^[j]severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts and plague to cut off man and beast from it! ²² Yet, behold, ^[k]survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. ²³ Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done in vain whatever I did ^[l]to it,” declares the Lord God.