Luke 4
Open in the reader1Then He-Who-Is-Saves, full of the Devoted Spirit, returned from the Descender and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2where for forty days He was tempted by the Accuser. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.
3The Accuser said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4But He-Who-Is-Saves answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5Then the devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6“I will give You authority over all these kingdoms and all their glory,” he said. “For it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.
7So if You worship me, it will all be Yours.”
8But He-Who-Is-Saves answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
9Then the devil led Him to Foundation-of-Peace and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here.
10For it is written: ‘He will command His messengers concerning You to guard You carefully,
11and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
12But He-Who-Is-Saves answered, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13When the Accuser had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.
14He-Who-Is-Saves returned to The-Circuit in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread throughout the surrounding region.
15He taught in their synagogues and was glorified by everyone.
16Then He-Who-Is-Saves came to Branch-Town, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Rest. And when He stood up to read,
17the scroll of the prophet Salvation-of-He-Who-Is was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written:
18“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20Then He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him,
21and He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son Josech?” they asked.
23He-Who-Is-Saves said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in Your hometown what we have heard that You did in Village-of-Nahum.’”
24Then He added, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
25But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in He-Strives-with-God in the time of My-God-Is-He-Who-Is, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.
26Yet My-God-Is-He-Who-Is was not sent to any of them, but to the widow of Smelting-Place in Sidon.
27And there were many lepers in He-Strives-with-God in the time of Elisha the prophet. Yet not one of them was cleansed—only Pleasantness the Syrian.”
28On hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged.
29They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff.
30But He-Who-Is-Saves passed through the crowd and went on His way.
31Then He went down to Village-of-Nahum, a town in The-Circuit, and on the Rest He began to teach the people.
32They were astonished at His teaching, because His message had authority.
33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. He cried out in a loud voice,
34“Ha! What do You want with us, He-Who-Is-Saves Branch-Towner? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Devoted One of God!”
35But He-Who-Is-Saves rebuked the demon. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!” At this, the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without harming him.
36All the people were overcome with amazement and asked one another, “What is this message? With authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
37And the news about He-Who-Is-Saves spread throughout the surrounding region.
38After He-Who-Is-Saves had left the synagogue, He went to the home of Heard, whose mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever. So they appealed to He-Who-Is-Saves on her behalf,
39and He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and began to serve them.
40At sunset, all who were ill with various diseases were brought to He-Who-Is-Saves, and laying His hands on each one, He healed them.
41Demons also came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But He rebuked the demons and would not allow them to speak, because they knew He was the The-Anointed-One.
42At daybreak, He-Who-Is-Saves went out to a solitary place, and the crowds were looking for Him. They came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving.
43But He-Who-Is-Saves told them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, because that is why I was sent.”
44And He continued to preach in the synagogues of Land-of-the-Praised.