1 As Jesus left the Jordan River valley, the Holy Spirit was completely controlling him. 2 For 40 days the Spirit led him around in the desolate area. During that time Jesus was being tempted by the devil {the devil was tempting him}, and Jesus did not eat anything. When that time ended, he was very hungry. 3 Then the devil said to Jesus, “Because you claim that you ◄have a relationship with God as a son has with his father [MET]/are the man who is both God and man►, prove it by telling these stones to become bread so that you can eat them!” 4 Jesus replied, “No, I will not change stones into bread, because it is written {Moses wrote} in the Scriptures that eating food sustains people physically, but it does not sustain them spiritually. They also need food for their spirits.” 5 Then the devil took him on top of a high mountain and showed him in an instant all the nations in the world. 6 Then he said to Jesus, “I will give you the authority to rule all these areas and will make you famous. I can do this because God has permitted me to control these areas, and I can allow anyone I desire to rule them! 7 So if you worship me, I will let you rule them all!” 8 But Jesus replied, “No, I will not worship you, because it is written {the Psalmist wrote} in the Scriptures, ‘It is the Lord, your God, whom you must worship, and you must serve only him!’ ”

9 Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem. He set him on the highest part of the Temple and said to him, “Because you claim that you ◄have a relationship with God as a son has with his father [MET]/are the man who is both God and man►, prove it by jumping down from here. 10  You will not be hurt, because it is written {the Psalmist wrote} in the Scriptures, ‘God will command his angels to protect you (sg). 11 They will lift you up with their hands when you are falling, so that you will not get hurt. You will not even strike your foot on a stone.’ ” 12 But Jesus replied, “No, I will not do that, because it is written {Moses wrote} in the Scriptures: ‘Do not try to test the Lord your God to see if he will prevent something bad from happening to you when you do something foolish’.”

13 Then, after the devil had finished trying to tempt Jesus in many ways, he left him. He wanted to try to tempt him later at an appropriate time.

14 As the Spirit empowered him, Jesus returned to Galilee district. People throughout all that region heard about what he was doing. 15 He taught people in their ◄synagogues/meeting places►. As a result, he was praised by everyone {everyone praised him}.

16 Then Jesus went to Nazareth, the town where he grew up. ◄On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day► he went ◄to the synagogue/to the Jewish meeting place►, as he usually did. He stood up to indicate that he wanted to read Scriptures to them. 17 A scroll containing the words that the prophet Isaiah had written was given to him {Someone gave to him a scroll containing the words that the prophet Isaiah had written}. He opened the scroll and found the place from which he wanted to read. He read these words:

20 Then he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down to teach the people. Everyone in the synagogue was looking intently [MTY] at him. 21 He said to them, “Today as you have been hearing [MTY] me speak, I am beginning to fulfill this Scripture passage.” 22  At first everyone there spoke well about him, and they were amazed at the charming words that he spoke. But then some of them said, “◄He is only Joseph’s son!/Isn’t he only Joseph’s son?► [RHQ] So ◄it is useless for us(exc) to listen to what he says!/why should we(exc) listen to what he says?► [RHQ]” 23 He said to them, “Surely some of you will quote to me the proverb that says, ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ What you will mean is, ‘People told us that you did miracles in Capernaum town, but we(exc) do not know if those reports are true. So do miracles here in your own hometown, too!’ ” 24 Then he said, “It is certainly true that people do not accept the message of a prophet when he speaks in his hometown, just like you(pl) are not accepting my message now. 25 But think about this: There were many widows in Israel during the time when the prophet Elijah lived. During that time, because of there being no rain [MTY] for three years and six months, there was a great famine throughout the country. 26 But God did not send Elijah to help any of those Jewish widows. God sent him to Zarepath town near Sidon city, to help a non-Jewish widow. 27 There were also many Jewish lepers in Israel during the time when the prophet Elisha lived. But Elisha did not heal any of them. He healed only Naaman, a non-Jewish man from Syria.” 28 When all the people in the synagogue heard him say that, they were very angry, because they realized that he was inferring that he similarly would help non-Jewish people instead of helping Jews (OR, that they also were not worthy of receiving God’s help). 29 So they all got up and shoved him out of the town. They took him to the top of the hill outside their town in order to throw him off the cliff and kill him. 30 But he simply walked through their midst and went away.

31  One day Jesus went with his disciples down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee district. On the next ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► (OR, Each ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest►), he taught the people ◄in the synagogue/in the Jewish meeting place►. 32 They were continually amazed at what he was teaching, because he spoke ◄with authority/as people speak who have the right to command others what to do►. 33  That day, (OR, On one of those Jewish days of rest,) there was a man in the synagogue who was controlled by an evil spirit. That man shouted very loudly, 34 “Hey! Jesus, from Nazareth! We(exc) evil spirits have nothing in common with you, so ◄do not interfere with us now!/why should you interfere with us now?► [RHQ] ◄Do not destroy us now!/Have you come to destroy us now?► [RHQ] I know who you are. You are the Holy One who has come from God!” 35 Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, saying, “Be quiet! And come out of the man!” The demon threw the man down on the ground in the midst of the people. But without harming the man, the demon left him. 36 The people were all amazed. They said to each other, “◄What he says to the demons has great power!/What kind of teaching is this?► [RHQ] He speaks to them like he knows that they must obey him, and as a result they leave people!” 37 The people were telling everyone in every village in the surrounding region what Jesus had done.

38 Jesus and his disciples left ◄the synagogue/the Jewish meeting place► and entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick and had a high fever. So others in Simon’s family (OR, the disciples) asked Jesus to heal her. 39 So he bent over her and commanded the fever to leave her. At once she became well! She got up and served them some food.

40 When the sun was setting that day, and the restriction about not traveling ◄on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day► was ended, many people [HYP] whose friends or relatives were sick or who had various diseases brought them to Jesus. He put his hands on them and healed all of them. 41 He also was expelling demons from many people. As the demons left those people, they shouted to Jesus, “You are ◄the Son of God/the one who is God and man►!” But he rebuked those demons and would not allow them to tell people about him, because they knew that he was the Messiah, and for various reasons he did not want everyone to know that yet.

42  Early the next morning Jesus left that house and went to an uninhabited place to pray. Many people searched for him, and when they found him they kept urging him not to leave them. 43 But he said to them, “I must tell people in other towns also the good message about how God wants to rule [MET] their lives, because that is what I was sent {God sent me} to do.” 44 So he kept preaching in ◄the synagogues/Jewish worship places► in various towns in Judea province.