1 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and for forty days He was led about in the desert under the Spirit's guidance,
2 while He was being tempted by the devil. During that time He ate nothing, and so at the end of it He felt hungry.
3 Then the devil said to Him, "If you are God's Son, order this stone to turn to a loaf of bread."
5 Then he took Him up and in a second of time he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world.
6 And the devil said to Him, "I will give you all this power and all their splendor, for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.
7 So if you will worship before me just once, it shall all be yours."
8 But Jesus answered him, "The Scripture says, 'You must worship the Lord your God, and serve Him alone.'"
9 Then he took Him to Jerusalem, and had Him stand on the tip-top turret of the temple, and said to Him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down from here,
10 for the Scripture says, 'He will give His angels directions about you, to protect you,'
11 and, 'They will bear you up on their hands, so that you will never strike your foot against a stone.'"
14 Then Jesus in the power of the Spirit returned to Galilee, and news of Him spread all over the surrounding country.
15 Meanwhile He began to teach in their synagogues, and was continuously receiving praise from all.
16 So He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and as His habit was on the Sabbath, He went to the synagogue and stood up to read.
17 The roll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him, and He unrolled it and found the place where it was written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has consecrated me to preach the good news to the poor; He has sent me to announce release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to send the downtrodden away in liberty and
19 to announce the year of favor from the Lord."
20 Then He rolled up the roll and gave it back to the attendant and took His seat. Now the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were gazing at Him.
21 Then He began to speak to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled here in your hearing."
22 So they all began to speak well of Him and to wonder at the gracious words that fell from His lips, and yet they continued to say, "Is He not Joseph's son?"
23 He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote this proverb to me, 'Doctor, cure yourself! Do the things here in your hometown that we hear you did in Capernaum.'"
24 He added, "I solemnly say to you, no prophet is welcome in his native neighborhood.
25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the heaven was closed for three years and a half, and there was a great famine over all the land,
26 and yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.
27 And there were many lepers in Israel in Elisha's time, and yet not one of them was cured except Naaman the Syrian."
28 Then all the people in the synagogue, on hearing these things, were filled with fury,
29 and they rose up and drove Him out of town and took Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, to hurl Him down the cliff.
30 But He Himself passed through the midst of them and went on His way.
31 So He came down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee. And He continued to teach them on the Sabbath,
32 and they were completely astounded, because His message was spoken with authority.
33 Now there was a man in the synagogue who was under the power of the spirit of a foul demon, and he screamed with a loud voice,
34 "Ha! What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are God's Holy One."
35 But Jesus reproved him, saying "Be quiet! Get out of him at once!" So the demon threw the man down in the midst of them and came out of him without doing him any harm.
36 Amazement then seized them all and they continued to talk it over among themselves, and to say, "What does this message mean? For with authority and power He gives orders to foul spirits, and they come out."
37 And so news of Him continued to spread to every place in the surrounding region.
38 Then He rose to leave the synagogue, and He went to Simon's house. And Simon's mother-in-law was in the grip of a burning fever; so they asked Him about her.
39 Then He took His stand by her and reproved the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
40 As the sun was setting, all who had friends sick with various diseases brought them to Him. Then He continued to lay His hands upon them one by one and cured them.
41 Even demons came out of many people, shrieking and saying, "You are the Son of God!" But He reproved them and would not let them speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.
42 As day broke He left the house and went to a lonely spot, and the crowds continued to look for Him; they overtook Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them.
43 But He said to them, "To other towns also I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God, for that is what I was sent to do."
44 So He continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea.