The devil tempts Jesus to do wrong
1Jesus went away from the Jordan River. The Holy_Spirit was in Jesus and the Spirit took Him into the desert. 2The devil tested Jesus for 40 days and tried to tempt Him to do wrong. Jesus had not had any food for 40 days and He was very hungry. 3The devil said to Jesus: ‘If You are the Son of God, say to these stones that they must change into bread.’
4But Jesus said to him: ‘In the Old_Testament it is written:
“You can not live if you only have bread.” ’
5Then the devil took Jesus to a high place and he showed Him all the lands of the world. 6The devil said to Jesus: ‘I will give You all these lands and all the power, because God has given it to me and I can give it to anyone that I want to. 7You must just worship me, then You will have it all.’
8But Jesus said to him: ‘In the Old_Testament it is written:
“You must worship the Lord your God
and serve only Him.” ’
9Then the devil took Jesus into Jerusalem and up to the top of the temple. The devil said to Jesus: ‘If You are the Son of God, then jump down, 10because it is written in the Old_Testament:
“God will tell his angels to protect You.
11They will hold You in their hands,
so that You will not hurt your foot on a stone.” ’
12But Jesus said to the devil: ‘It is also written in the Old_Testament:
“You must not test the Lord your God.” ’
13After the devil had tempted Jesus to do wrong, he went away for a long time.
Jesus in the province of Galilee
14Jesus came back to Galilee and the Holy_Spirit made Him strong. In Galilee, all the people talked about Jesus. 15Jesus started to teach them in the synagogues and everyone said good things about Him.
The people of Nazareth chase Jesus away
16Jesus came to Nazareth, the town where He had lived when He was a child. He went to the synagogue every Sabbath day. Then one day He got up in the synagogue to read words from the Bible to the people. 17They gave Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus opened the book and He read what Isaiah had written. He read:
18‘The Spirit_of_the_Lord leads me.
The Lord has anointed me.
He said I must bring good news to poor people.
He sent me to tell the prisoners
that they are free, and they can go.
He sent me to tell the blind people
that they will see again.
I must free all the people who are suffering.
19I must say: “Now is the time
that the Lord will save his people.” ’
20Then Jesus closed the Book and He gave it back to the person who had to put it away. Jesus sat down and everyone in the synagogue looked at Him. 21Then Jesus started to talk to the people and He said: ‘Today God has made these things, which I have read from the Bible, happen.’
22All the people said good things about Jesus. They were amazed and said that Jesus told them wonderful things. They said to each other: ‘He is the son of Joseph. Where did He learn these wonderful things?’
23But Jesus said to them: ‘Later you will say the words of this proverb to Me: “If You are a doctor, then you must heal Yourself.”
You will also say: “They told us of all the miracles that You have done in Capernaum. You must do the same things here in this town where You were a child.” 24But I tell you: People do not listen to a prophet in the town where his people live. 25It was also true in the time when the prophet Elijah lived in the land_of_Israel. It did not rain for 3 years and 6 months and there was no food. There were a lot of widows in the land of Israel, 26but the Lord did not tell Elijah to go to one of them. He sent Elijah only to a widow in the town of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27And in the time when the prophet Elisha lived, there were a lot of lepers in the land_of_Israel. But the Lord did not heal one of them. He healed only Naaman, from the land of Syria.’
28Everyone in the synagogue was angry when they heard what Jesus said. 29They got up and chased Jesus out of the town. Their town was on a mountain and they took Him to the side of the mountain. They wanted to push Him off the mountain. 30But Jesus walked through the crowd of people and He went away.
Jesus chases_out_an_evil_spirit
31Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in the province of Galilee. Every Sabbath day He went to the synagogue to teach the people. 32The people were surprised when they heard the things that Jesus told them, because they knew that the words He said came from God.
33In the synagogue there was a man who had an evil_spirit in him. The spirit shouted_loudly and said: 34‘Jesus of Nazareth, what do You want to do with us? Have You come to kill us all? I know who You are. You are the holy One of God.’ 35Jesus told the spirit to stop talking. He said: ‘Keep quiet and go out of the man.’
Everyone saw how the devil made the man fall on the ground and he went out of the man. He did not hurt him. 36All the people were surprised and they said to each other: ‘The words that Jesus says come from God. He tells the evil_spirits to go out and they listen to Him and go out.’ 37All the people were talking about what Jesus did.
Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law and other sick people
38Jesus went away from the synagogue and He went to Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was very sick in bed. Her body was very hot. The people asked Jesus to help her. 39Jesus came to her bed and He said: ‘You will not be sick anymore.’
Immediately she was healed. She got up and gave them food. 40When the sun went down, the people started to bring all the sick people to Jesus. Jesus put his hands on everyone and He healed them. 41He also chased_demons out of many people and the demons shouted: ‘You are the Son of God.’ The demons knew He was the Christ. That is why Jesus was angry with them and told them to keep quiet.
Jesus goes away from Capernaum
42The next morning Jesus went away to a quiet place to be alone. Many people were looking for Him. When they saw Him, they did not want Him to go away from them. 43But Jesus told them: ‘I must also go to the people in other towns. I must tell them the Good_News about God who is King. This is why God sent Me.’ 44Then Jesus went to other towns in Judea and He started to teach the people in the synagogues.
