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About Satan tempting Jesus
1 Jesus left the Jordan River filled with the Holy Spirit. As he went along, the Spirit controlled him and led him into the desert. 2 And Satan came to Jesus and tempted him. For forty days he kept on and on tempting Jesus while he was there by himself. After that Jesus was very hungry because he hadn't eaten any food in the desert.
3 Then Satan said to him, “You are God's Son, aren't you? Then change this stone into damper.”
4 Jesus answered, “In God's book these words are written,
‘Just food won't keep people alive.’ ”
5 Then Satan took Jesus up on to a hill and quickly showed him all the countries where people were living. He showed Jesus everything from the east right over to the west. 6 Then he said, “I will give you all the wonderful things in all those countries, and I will make you rule over them all. Everything you can see belongs to me. I am the ruler, so if I want to I can give it to you or to anyone else. 7 If you worship me, then everything will be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “Long ago Moses told God's people,
‘Worship the Lord your God, and work for him and no one else.’ ”
9 Then Satan took Jesus to the temple. The temple area was surrounded by a stone wall, and Satan took Jesus up on to the top. Then they looked down to the ground, and Satan said to Jesus, “You are God's Son, aren't you? Throw yourself down to the ground. 10 In God's book it is written,
‘God will tell his angels and they will look after you. 11 They will lift you up with their hands so that the stones don't hurt your feet.’ ”
12 Jesus answered Satan, “In God's book it is also written,
Do not try God out to get him to do what you want him to do.”
13 Satan kept on tempting Jesus, but at last he stopped, and left him for a while until another time.
About Jesus starting his work
14 Then Jesus left the desert and went back to the country of Galilee. He went on until he arrived in Galilee. And the Holy Spirit made him strong and controlled him. And all the people of Galilee talked about him. 15 When he went from place to place Jesus taught the people God's word. He taught in the buildings called synagogues. And all the people praised him.
About the people of Nazareth rejecting Jesus
16 Then Jesus went to Nazareth, the town where he had grown up. And on the day called the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he always did. And while everyone was sitting down, Jesus stood up and went to the front to read God's word to the people. 17 A servant gave Jesus the paper scroll with Isaiah's words written in it. Isaiah was a prophet who lived long ago. Jesus unrolled the paper and looked for the place he wanted. When he found it, he read these words to the people:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord God is with me today.
The Spirit is controlling me, because God has chosen me.
He has chosen me to bring his good news to the poor.
He has sent me to tell people who are in prison that he will bring them out,
and to tell the blind that they will see again.
And he has sent me to set people free when other people make trouble for them,
19 and to tell people that the Lord God will save his people today.”
20 Jesus finished reading and rolled up the paper scroll and gave it back to the servant who had given it to him and sat down to speak. All the people were looking at him. 21 Jesus said to them, “Today the words I have been reading from God's book have all come true as you have been listening to them.”
22 All the people who heard Jesus began talking about him. “He speaks very well,” they said, “but isn't he Joseph's son?”
23 Jesus said, “I know what you will say to me. You will use these old words, ‘You know how to heal people, so heal yourself.’ And you will also tell me to do the same things here in my own town as I did in Capernaum, because you have heard what I have been doing there. 24 But I tell you this, when a prophet speaks God's words to his own people in his own town, they will not listen to him.
25 “Listen to me and think about Elijah. He lived long ago in Israel. At that time there was no rain in his country. For three and a half years there was no rain. So there was no food and the people there were starving. Many widows lived there. 26 But God didn't send Elijah to any of the widows in his own country. He sent him to another country called Sidon. So he went there and helped a widow in a town called Zarephath.
27 “Now think about another prophet, Elisha, who also lived long ago in Israel. At that time many people in his country had bad sores all over them. Elisha didn't heal them, but he healed Naaman, who was from a different country called Syria. So just think about those two prophets.”
28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were filled with anger. 29 They got up and grabbed Jesus and put him out of the synagogue. They took him away from the houses to throw him down from the top of the hill. 30 But Jesus walked through the middle of the crowd and left them.
About a man with an evil spirit
31 Then Jesus went to a town called Capernaum, in Galilee. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue and taught the people God's word. 32 When they heard Jesus they were all very surprised, because he spoke strong words, like the words of rulers.
33 In Capernaum there lived a man who had an evil spirit. He also went to the synagogue, and he screamed out in a loud voice, 34 “Hey! Leave me alone! Why have you come to us, Jesus of Nazareth? You have come here to kill us, haven't you! I know who you are. You are the one God has sent here!”
35 “Be quiet!” said Jesus. “Come out of the man at once!” And the spirit threw the man down among the people without hurting him and came out of him.
36 All the people in the synagogue were very surprised. “What kind of words are these?” they said to each other. “This man speaks strong words, doesn't he? He rules over the spirits like a great ruler, and they come out.”
37 The people went home and talked to each other about Jesus and told other people about him, until many people in the different places near Capernaum had heard what Jesus had done and talked about him too.
About Jesus healing many people
38 Jesus also left the synagogue and went to the home of a man called Simon. He went into the house and found that a woman there was very sick. She was Simon's mother-in-law. She was lying down and she was hot all over. Her family told Jesus about her sickness so that he could heal her. 39 Jesus went over to where she was lying and stood near her and spoke some strong words. “Leave her at once!” he said to the sickness. And she became cool straight away and she got up and cooked food for them.
40 Then the sun went down, and many people came to Jesus bringing their sick friends with them. They had all kinds of sicknesses. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched them one by one and healed them all.
41 Many of the people had evil spirits, but the spirits came out of them and left them, screaming, “You are the Son of God!” And Jesus spoke strong words to the evil spirits and made them be quiet, because they knew that he was the Messiah, the one God had sent into the world.
About Jesus speaking in the synagogue
42 At daybreak the next day Jesus left Capernaum and went away by himself. But the people started looking for him, and when they found him they wanted him to stay with them.
43 But Jesus said to them, “I must go to other places to tell people the good news there too. I must tell them about God ruling over people, because God has sent me here to tell people everywhere about him ruling.”
44 So Jesus left them and went around from place to place. He went to the synagogues and preached God's word to the people.