Luke 4-7

New American Standard Bible 1995

The Temptation of Jesus

4 ^(A)Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, ^(B)returned from the Jordan and was led around ^[a]by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for ^(C)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, ‘^(D)Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

^5 (E)And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of ^[b](F)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; ^(G)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, ‘^(H)You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

^9 (I)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, ‘^(L)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 ^(M)Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and ^(N)news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. ¹⁵ And He began ^(O)teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶ And He came to ^(P)Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, ^(Q)He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and ^(R)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 ^(U)closed the ^[g]book, gave it back to the attendant and ^(V)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, “^(W)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 ^(X)at Capernaum, do here in ^(Y)your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And He said, “Truly I say to you, ^(Z)no prophet is welcome in his hometown. ²⁵ But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel ^(AA)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 ^(AB)only to ^[l]Zarephath, in the land of ^(AC)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 ^(AD)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 ^(AE)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 ^(AF)passing through their midst, He went His way.

³¹ And ^(AG)He came down to ^(AH)Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; ³² and ^(AI)they were amazed at His teaching, for ^(AJ)His ^[m]message was with authority. ³³ In the synagogue there was a man ^[n]possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Let us alone! ^[o](AK)What business do we have with each other, Jesus ^[p]of ^(AL)Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—^(AM)the Holy One of God!” ³⁵ But Jesus ^(AN)rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. ³⁶ And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is ^[q]this message? For ^(AO)with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.” ³⁷ And ^(AP)the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.

Many Are Healed

^38 (AQ)Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ^(AR)suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him ^[r]to help her. ³⁹ And standing over her, He ^(AS)rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and ^[s]waited on them.

^40 (AT)While ^(AU)the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and ^(AV)laying His hands on each one of them, He was ^(AW)healing them. ⁴¹ Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are ^(AX)the Son of God!” But ^(AY)rebuking them, He would ^(AZ)not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be ^[t]the Christ.

^42 (BA)When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. ⁴³ But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, ^(BB)for I was sent for this purpose.”

⁴⁴ So He kept on preaching in the synagogues ^(BC)of ^[u]Judea.

The First Disciples

5 ^(BD)Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by ^(BE)the lake of Gennesaret; ² and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. ³ And ^(BF)He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the ^[v]people from the boat. ⁴ When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and ^(BG)let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon answered and said, “^(BH)Master, ^(BI)we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but ^[w]I will do as You say and let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done this, ^(BJ)they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; ⁷ so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ ^[x]feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰ and so also were ^[y]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “^(BK)Do not fear, from now on you will be ^(BL)catching men.” ¹¹ When they had brought their boats to land, ^(BM)they left everything and followed Him.

The Leper and the Paralytic

^12 (BN)While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ^[z]covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ¹³ And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and ^(BO)show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ¹⁵ But ^(BP)the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus Himself would often slip away ^[aa]to the ^[ab]wilderness and ^(BQ)pray.

^17 [ac]One day He was teaching; and ^(BR)there were some Pharisees and ^(BS)teachers of the law sitting there, who had ^(BT)come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and ^(BU)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ^18 (BV)And some men were carrying on a ^[ad]bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(BW)the roof and let him down ^(BX)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Seeing their faith, He said, “^[ae]Friend, ^(BY)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(BZ)began to reason, saying, “^(CA)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(CB)Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” ²² But Jesus, ^[af]aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the ^(CC)paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(CD)glorifying God. ^26 [ag]They were all struck with astonishment and began ^(CE)glorifying God; and they were filled ^(CF)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Call of Levi (Matthew)

^27 (CG)After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named ^[ah](CH)Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he ^(CI)left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

²⁹ And ^(CJ)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of ^(CK)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. ^30 (CL)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^[ai]sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(CM)It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

³³ And they said to Him, “^(CN)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[aj]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[ak]attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? ^35 (CO)But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

6 ^(CP)Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples ^(CQ)were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. ² But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what ^(CR)is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ³ And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read ^(CS)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, ⁴ how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the ^[al]consecrated bread which ^(CT)is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” ⁵ And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

^6 (CU)On another Sabbath He entered ^(CV)the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there ^[am]whose right hand was withered. ⁷ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(CW)were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him. ⁸ But He ^(CX)knew ^[an]what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and ^[ao]come forward!” And he got up and ^[ap]came forward. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ After ^(CY)looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they themselves were filled with ^[aq]rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

Choosing the Twelve

¹² It was ^[ar]at this time that He went off to ^(CZ)the mountain to ^(DA)pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. ¹³ And when day came, ^(DB)He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as ^(DC)apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and ^[as]James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ and ^(DD)Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷ Jesus ^(DE)came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was ^(DF)a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of ^(DG)Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. ¹⁹ And all the ^[at]people were trying to ^(DH)touch Him, for ^(DI)power was coming from Him and healing them all.

The Beatitudes

²⁰ And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “^(DJ)Blessed are ^[au]you who are poor, for ^(DK)yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹ Blessed are ^[av]you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. ^22 (DL)Blessed are you when men hate you, and ^(DM)ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. ²³ Be glad in that day and ^(DN)leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For ^(DO)in the same way their fathers used to ^[aw]treat the prophets. ²⁴ But woe to ^(DP)you who are rich, for ^(DQ)you are receiving your comfort in full. ²⁵ Woe to you who ^[ax]are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. ²⁶ Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to ^[ay]treat the ^(DR)false prophets in the same way.

²⁷ “But I say to you who hear, ^(DS)love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, ^(DT)pray for those who ^[az]mistreat you. ^29 (DU)Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your ^[ba]coat, do not withhold your ^[bb]shirt from him either. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. ^31 [bc](DV)Treat others the same way you want ^[bd]them to treat you. ^32 (DW)If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ^34 (DX)If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. ³⁵ But ^(DY)love your enemies, and do good, and lend, ^[be]expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be ^(DZ)sons of ^(EA)the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. ^36 [bf]Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷ “^(EB)Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; ^[bg](EC)pardon, and you will be pardoned. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. They will ^[bh]pour ^(ED)into your lap a ^(EE)good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

³⁹ And He also spoke a parable to them: “^(EF)A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? ^40 (EG)A ^[bi]pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will ^[bj]be like his teacher. ⁴¹ Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴² Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. ^43 (EH)For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, ^[bk]on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. ^44 (EI)For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. ^45 (EJ)The good man out of the good ^[bl]treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; ^(EK)for his mouth speaks from ^[bm]that which fills his heart.

Builders and Foundations

⁴⁶ “^(EL)Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ^47 (EM)Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and ^[bn]acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: ⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who ^[bo]dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the ^[bp]torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the ^[bq]torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant

7 ^(EN)When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, ^(EO)He went to Capernaum.

² And a centurion’s slave, ^[br]who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. ³ When he heard about Jesus, ^(EP)he sent some ^[bs]Jewish elders asking Him to come and ^[bt]save the life of his slave. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; ⁵ for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.” ⁶ Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “^[bu]Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; ⁷ for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just ^[bv]say the word, and my ^[bw]servant will be healed. ⁸ For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ⁹ Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, ^(EQ)not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” ¹⁰ When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

¹¹ Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, ^[bx]accompanied by a large crowd. ¹² Now as He approached the gate of the city, ^[by]a dead man was being carried out, the ^[bz]only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. ¹³ When ^(ER)the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “^[ca]Do not weep.” ¹⁴ And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” ¹⁵ The ^[cb]dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. ^16 (ES)Fear gripped them all, and they began ^(ET)glorifying God, saying, “A great ^(EU)prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has ^[cc]visited His people!” ^17 (EV)This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

A Deputation from John

^18 (EW)The disciples of John reported to him about all these things. ¹⁹ Summoning ^[cd]two of his disciples, John sent them to ^(EX)the Lord, saying, “Are You the ^[ce]Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” ²⁰ When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the ^[cf]Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’” ²¹ At that ^[cg]very time He ^(EY)cured many people of diseases and ^(EZ)afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. ²² And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the ^(FA)blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the ^(FB)poor have the gospel preached to them. ²³ Blessed is he ^[ch]who does not take offense at Me.”

²⁴ When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ^25 [ci]But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft ^[cj]clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces! ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written,

²⁸ I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is ^[cl]least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹ When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they ^[cm]acknowledged ^(FD)God’s justice, ^(FE)having been baptized with ^(FF)the baptism of John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the ^[cn](FG)lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by ^[co]John.

³¹ “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ ³³ For John the Baptist has come ^(FH)eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ^[cp]drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ^[cq]sinners!’ ³⁵ Yet wisdom ^(FI)is vindicated by all her children.”

³⁶ Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to ^[cr]dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ^37 (FJ)And there was a woman in the city who was a ^[cs]sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, ³⁸ and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were ^(FK)a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a ^[ct]sinner.”

Parable of Two Debtors

⁴⁰ And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he ^[cu]replied, “Say it, Teacher.” ⁴¹ “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred ^[cv](FL)denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² When they ^(FM)were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” ⁴⁴ Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you ^(FN)gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You ^(FO)gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. ^46 (FP)You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then He said to her, “^(FQ)Your sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹ Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say ^[cw]to themselves, “^(FR)Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And He said to the woman, “^(FS)Your faith has saved you; ^(FT)go in peace.”