Gospel according to Matthew 4

¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

² He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry,

³ and the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves’.

⁴ But he replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’.[*a]

⁵ The devil then took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple.

⁶ ‘If you are the Son of God’ he said ‘throw yourself down; for scripture says: He will put you in his angels’ charge, and they will support you on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone’.[*b]

⁷ Jesus said to him, ‘Scripture also says: You must not put the Lord your God to the test’.[*c]

⁸ Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.

⁹ ‘I will give you all these’ he said, ‘if you fall at my feet and worship me.’

¹⁰ Then Jesus replied, ‘Be off, Satan! For scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.'[*d]

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.

¹² Hearing that John had been arrested he went back to Galilee,

¹³ and leaving Nazareth he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.

¹⁴ In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:

¹⁵ ‘Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations!

¹⁶ The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light; on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.'[*e]

¹⁷ From that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand’.

¹⁸ As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen.

¹⁹ And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men’.

²⁰ And they left their nets at once and followed him.

²¹ Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them.

²² At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.

²³ He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.

²⁴ His fame spread throughout Syria,[*f] and those who were suffering from diseases and painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the paralysed, were all brought to him, and he cured them.

²⁵ Large crowds followed him, coming from Galilee, the Decapolis,[*g] Jerusalem, Judaea and Transjordania.