Luke 4:2-13

4:2 where for forty days he endured temptations¹ from the devil. He² ate nothing³ during those days, and when they were completed,⁴ he was famished. 4:3 The devil said to him, “If⁵ you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”⁶ 4:4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man⁷ does not live by bread alone.’”⁸

4:5 Then⁹ the devil¹⁰ led him up¹¹ to a high place¹² and showed him in a flash all the kingdoms of the world. 4:6 And he¹³ said to him, “To you¹⁴ I will grant this whole realm¹⁵ – and the glory that goes along with it,¹⁶ for it has been relinquished¹⁷ to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. 4:7 So then, if¹⁸ you will worship¹⁹ me, all this will be²⁰ yours.” 4:8 Jesus²¹ answered him,²² “It is written, ‘You are to worship²³ the Lord²⁴ your God and serve only him.’”²⁵

4:9 Then²⁶ the devil²⁷ brought him to Jerusalem,²⁸ had him stand²⁹ on the highest point of the temple,³⁰ and said to him, “If³¹ you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 4:10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’³² 4:11 and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”³³ 4:12 Jesus³⁴ answered him,³⁵ “It is said, ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’”³⁶ 4:13 So³⁷ when the devil³⁸ had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a more opportune time.³⁹

¹tn 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.

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

³sn 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.

⁴tn The Greek word here is συντελεσθείσων (suntelesqeiswn) from the verb συντελέω (suntelew).

sn This verb and its cognate noun, sunteleia, usually implies not just the end of an event, but its completion or fulfillment. The noun is always used in the NT in eschatological contexts; the verb is often so used (cf. Matt 13:39, 40; 24:3; 28:20; Mark 13:4; Rom 9:28; Heb 8:8; 9:26). The idea here may be that the forty-day period of temptation was designed for a particular purpose in the life of Christ (the same verb is used in v. 13). The cognate verb teleiow is a key NT term for the completion of God’s plan: See Luke 12:50; 22:37; John 19:30; and (where it has the additional component of meaning “to perfect”) Heb 2:10; 5:8-9; 7:28.

⁵tn This is a first class condition: “If (and let’s assume that you are) the Son of God…”

⁶tn Grk “say to this stone that it should become bread.”

⁷tn 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.

⁸tc 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.

sn A quotation from Deut 8:3. Jesus will live by doing God’s will, and will take no shortcuts.

⁹tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

sn The order of Luke’s temptations differs from Matthew’s at this point as numbers two and three are reversed. It is slightly more likely that Luke has made the change to put the Jerusalem temptation last, as Jerusalem is so important to Luke’s later account. The temporal markers in Matthew’s account are also slightly more specific.

¹⁰tn Grk “he.”

¹¹tc 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.

¹²tn “A high place” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied for clarity.

¹³tn Grk “And the devil.”

¹⁴sn In Greek, this phrase is in an emphatic position. In effect, the devil is tempting Jesus by saying, “Look what you can have!”

¹⁵tn 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.

¹⁶tn 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.

¹⁷tn 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.

¹⁸tn This is a third class condition: “If you worship me (and I am not saying whether you will or will not)…”

¹⁹tn 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.

²⁰tn 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.

²¹tn Grk “And Jesus.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

²²tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A Θ Ψ 0102 Ë¹³ Ï it), have “Get behind me, Satan!” at the beginning of the quotation. This roughly parallels Matt 4:10 (though the Lukan mss add ὀπίσω μου to read ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, σατανᾶ [{upage opisw mou, satana]); for this reason the words are suspect as a later addition to make the two accounts agree more precisely. A similar situation occurred in v. 5.

²³tn Or “You 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.

²⁴tc Most later mss (A Θ 0102 Ï) alter the word order by moving the verb forward in the quotation. This alteration removes the emphasis from “the Lord your God” as the one to receive worship (as opposed to Satan) by moving it away from the beginning of the quotation.

sn In the form of the quotation in the Greek text found in the best mss, it is the unique sovereignty of the Lord that has the emphatic position.

²⁵sn A quotation from Deut 6:13. The word “only” is an interpretive expansion not found in either the Hebrew or Greek (LXX) text of the OT.

²⁶tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

²⁷tn Grk “he”; the referent (the devil) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁸map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

²⁹tn Grk “and stood him.”

³⁰sn The reference to the highest point of the temple probably refers to the one point on the temple’s southeast corner where the site looms directly over a cliff some 450 feet (135 m) high. However, some have suggested the reference could be to the temple’s high gate.

³¹tn This is another first class condition, as in v. 3.

³²sn A quotation from Ps 91:11 by the devil. This was not so much an incorrect citation as a use in a wrong context (a misapplication of the passage).

³³sn A quotation from Ps 91:12.

³⁴tn Grk “And Jesus.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

³⁵tn Grk “Jesus, answering, said to him.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified to “Jesus answered him.”

³⁶sn A quotation from Deut 6:16 used by Jesus in reply to the devil. The point is that God’s faithfulness should not be put to the test, but is rather a given.

³⁷tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate a summary.

³⁸tn Grk “he”; the referent (the devil) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁹tn Grk “until a favorable time.”

sn Until a more opportune time. Though some have argued that the devil disappears until Luke 22:3, this is unlikely since the cosmic battle with Satan and all the evil angels is consistently mentioned throughout Luke (8:26-39; 11:14-23).