Luke 4

The original text was written in Koine Greek and is divided into 44 verses.

Jesus, as in Matthew 4 and Mark 1, travels into the desert and fasts for forty days. He is confronted by Satan, who tempts (or tests)[5] him with three things:

First, Satan commands him to turn stones into bread. Jesus replies "Man does not live on bread alone",(4) quoting Moses from Deuteronomy 8:3.

Secondly, Satan shows him "... all the kingdoms of the world" (5) and tells Jesus he can have them all if he falls down and worships him. Jesus replies with a further quote from Deuteronomy 6:13, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" (8)

Finally, Satan takes Jesus to the top of the Temple of Jerusalem and quotes Psalm 91:11-12 as a criterion for a test of favor with God, to which Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, "... Do not put the Lord your God to the test." (12).

This narrative is also found in Matthew 4:1–11, but in Matthew the order of the second and third temptations is reversed. This was most probably in Q if that hypothesis is correct; perhaps their copies of Q were in a different order? This difference in orders presents a challenge for redactional criticism. It is unclear whether in Q, if it existed, the order was originally the same as Luke's and Matthew changed it to have it end on a mountain, a common motif of Matthew, such as Matthew 5:1 and Matthew 28:16, or Luke changed it to have the temptations end in Jerusalem.[6] Luke ends his gospel in Jerusalem in Luke 24. Most scholars believe Matthew's order was the order Q used.[7]

Luke then says that Satan left Jesus "... until an opportune time." (13). Satan appears later in Luke 22, entering Judas to make him betray Jesus and Brown (237) argues at Luke 22:53 when Jesus says to those arresting him "But this is your hour — when darkness reigns".

Mount Precipice, Nazareth (photographed in 2009)

Jesus returns to Galilee, says Luke, and teaches in many of the synagogues there. One Shabbat, he goes to the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, gets up and reads a section of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah 61:1–2, referring to himself as the fulfillment of this prophecy. Luke's text uses the Septuagint version, but the version Jesus read would have been in Hebrew.[8]

The people are amazed at his assertion, but Jesus goes on the rebuke them, saying "I tell you the truth ... no prophet is accepted in his hometown." (24)

Jesus goes to Capernaum and exorcises a possessed man, the first of Luke's 21 miracles. He goes to Simon's house and heals his sick mother-in-law. Mark 1 has this occur after Jesus called his disciples, while Luke puts that event into chapter 5.

He heals more and more people, then retreats to the wilderness for solitary prayer. They come and find him there but he tells them to meet him in the surrounding towns, where he is to travel and preach. This section, Luke 4:31-44, is almost exactly the same as Mark 1:21-29 and can also be partially found in Matthew 8:14-16.

In verse 44, Luke affirms that Jesus continued preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. Some ancient manuscripts (א, B, C, L and other uncials) refer to τὰς συναγωγὰς τῆς Ἰουδαίας, tas synagōgas tēs Ioudaias, the synagogues of Judea.[10]