Luke 4:1-7

The Temptation of Jesus

4:1 Then ¹  Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River ²  and was led by the Spirit ³  in ⁴  the wilderness, ⁵  4:2 where for forty days he endured temptations ⁶  from the devil. He ⁷  ate nothing ⁸  during those days, and when they were completed, ⁹  he was famished. 4:3 The devil said to him, “If ¹⁰  you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ¹¹  4:4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man ¹²  does not live by bread alone.’” ¹³ 

4:5 Then ¹⁴  the devil ¹⁵  led him up ¹⁶  to a high place ¹⁷  and showed him in a flash all the kingdoms of the world. 4:6 And he ¹⁸  said to him, “To you ¹⁹  I will grant this whole realm ²⁰  – and the glory that goes along with it, ²¹  for it has been relinquished ²²  to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. 4:7 So then, if ²³  you will worship ²⁴  me, all this will be ²⁵  yours.”

[4:1]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate continuity with the previous topic.

[4:1]  ² tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[4:1]  ³ sn The double mention of the Spirit in this verse makes it clear that the temptation was neither the fault of Jesus nor an accident.

[4:1]  ⁴ tc Most mss (A Θ Ξ Ψ 0102 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) read εἰς τὴν ἔρημον (ei" thn erhmon, “into the wilderness”), apparently motivated by the parallel in Matt 4:1. However, the reading behind the translation (ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, en th ejrhmw) is found in overall better witnesses (Ì^4vid,7,75vid א B D L W 579 892 1241 pc it).

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Or “desert.”

[4:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “in the desert, for forty days being tempted.” The participle πειραζόμενος (peirazomeno") has been translated as an adverbial clause in English to avoid a run-on sentence with a second “and.” Here the present participle suggests a period of forty days of testing. Three samples of the end of the testing are given in the following verses.

[4:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[4:2]  ⁸ sn The reference to Jesus eating nothing could well be an idiom meaning that he ate only what the desert provided; see Exod 34:28. A desert fast simply meant eating only what one could obtain in the desert. The parallel in Matt 4:2 speaks only of Jesus fasting.

[4:2]  ⁹ tn The Greek word here is συντελεσθείσων (suntelesqeiswn) from the verb συντελέω (suntelew).

[4:3]  ¹⁰ tn This is a first class condition: “If (and let’s assume that you are) the Son of God…”

[4:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “say to this stone that it should become bread.”

[4:4]  ¹² tn Or “a person.” The Greek word ὁ ἄνθρωπος (Jo anqrwpo") is used generically for humanity. The translation “man” is used because the emphasis in Jesus’ response seems to be on his dependence on God as a man.

[4:4]  ¹³ tc Most mss (A [D] Θ Ψ [0102] Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt) complete the citation with ἀλλ᾿ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι θεοῦ (ajll’ ejpi panti rJhmati qeou, “but by every word from God”), an assimilation to Matt 4:4 (which is a quotation of Deut 8:3). The shorter reading is found in א B L W 1241 pc sa. There is no good reason why scribes would omit the rest of the quotation here. The shorter reading, on both internal and external grounds, should be considered the original wording in Luke.

[4:5]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[4:5]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he.”

[4:5]  ¹⁶ tc Most mss (א¹ A [D W] Θ Ψ 0102 Ë^1,[13] 33 700 2542 Ï it) refer to Jesus being taken up “to a high mountain” (with many of these also explicitly adding “the devil”) here in parallel with Matt 4:8, but both scribal harmonization to that text and the pedigree of the witnesses for the shorter reading (א* B L 1241 pc) is the reason it should be omitted from Luke.

[4:5]  ¹⁷ tn “A high place” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied for clarity.

[4:6]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And the devil.”

[4:6]  ¹⁹ sn In Greek, this phrase is in an emphatic position. In effect, the devil is tempting Jesus by saying, “Look what you can have!”

[4:6]  ²⁰ tn Or “authority.” BDAG 353 s.v. ἐξουσία 6 suggests, concerning this passage, that the term means “the sphere in which the power is exercised, domain.” Cf. also Luke 22:53; 23:7; Acts 26:18; Eph 2:2.

[4:6]  ²¹ tn The addendum referring to the glory of the kingdoms of the world forms something of an afterthought, as the following pronoun (“it”) makes clear, for the singular refers to the realm itself.

[4:6]  ²² tn For the translation of παραδέδοται (paradedotai) see L&N 57.77. The devil is erroneously implying that God has given him such authority with the additional capability of sharing the honor.

[4:7]  ²³ tn This is a third class condition: “If you worship me (and I am not saying whether you will or will not)…”

[4:7]  ²⁴ tn Or “will prostrate yourself in worship before…” The verb προσκυνέω (proskunew) can allude not only to the act of worship but the position of the worshiper. See L&N 53.56.

[4:7]  ²⁵ tn One could translate this phrase “it will all be yours.” The sense is the same, but the translation given is a touch more emphatic and more likely to catch the force of the offer.