Luke 4 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Jesus, completely filled with the Breath of God, came back from the Jordan River. The Breath then led him into the wilderness

where he was tested by the devil for forty days. He ate nothing during that time, and when it was over, he was starving.

The devil said to him, "If you really are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

Jesus answered him, "It's written: 'A person doesn't live on bread alone.'"

Then the devil took him up to a high place and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single moment.

The devil told him, "I'll give you all this authority and splendor — it's been handed over to me, and I give it to whoever I want."

"So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

Jesus answered him, "It's written: 'Worship Yahweh your God and serve only him.'"

Then the devil brought him to Jerusalem, set him on the highest point of the temple, and said, "If you really are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here."

"Because it's written: 'He will order his angels to protect you,'"

"and 'They will carry you in their hands so you won't even stub your foot on a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It also says: 'Don't put Yahweh your God to the test.'"

After exhausting every kind of test, the devil left him until the next opportunity.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Breath, and news about him spread through the entire region.

He taught in their synagogues, and everyone was impressed by him.

He went to Nazareth, where he'd grown up, and on the Sabbath he went into the synagogue as he usually did. He stood up to read,

and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it says:

"The Breath of Yahweh is on me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to announce freedom to prisoners, and sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,"

"and to announce that now is the time when Yahweh acts."

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him.

Then he said to them, "Today, this Scripture has come true right here as you listened."

Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed at the gracious words coming from his mouth. But they asked, "Wait — isn't this Joseph's son?"

He said to them, "You're definitely going to quote this proverb at me: 'Doctor, heal yourself.' And you'll say, 'We've heard what you did in Capernaum — do the same things here in your hometown.'"

Then he continued, "I'm telling you the truth — no prophet is accepted in his hometown."

"Believe me, there were plenty of widows in Israel during Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and severe famine hit the whole land."

"Yet Elijah wasn't sent to any of them. He was sent to a widow in Zarephath — in Sidonian territory."

"And there were plenty of people with skin diseases in Israel during the prophet Elisha's time, but none of them were healed — only Naaman the Syrian."

When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were furious.

They jumped up, drove him out of town, and dragged him to the edge of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him off the cliff.

But he walked right through the middle of the crowd and went on his way.

Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught the people on the Sabbath.

They were blown away by his teaching, because he spoke with real authority.

In the synagogue there was a man controlled by a demonic spirit, and he screamed at the top of his lungs,

"Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know exactly who you are — the One set apart by God!"

"Be quiet!" Jesus commanded. "Come out of him!" The demonic spirit threw the man down in front of everyone and came out without hurting him.

Everyone was stunned. They said to each other, "What kind of message is this? He orders these unclean spirits with authority and power, and they actually leave!"

And news about him spread to every place in the surrounding area.

After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a severe fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.

He stood over her and spoke directly to the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and started taking care of them.

As the sun was setting, everyone who had sick family members — no matter what the illness — brought them to Jesus. He placed his hands on each one of them and healed them.

Demonic spirits also came out of many people, screaming, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and wouldn't let them speak, because they knew he was the One.

At daybreak, Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched for him and when they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving.

But he told them, "I have to bring the good news of God's kingdom to other towns too — that's exactly why I was sent."

And he kept teaching in the synagogues throughout Judea.