Study Desk

^(C1)Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, ^(C2)returned from the Jordan and was led around ^(F1)by the Spirit in the wilderness

for ^(C1)forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.

And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

And Jesus answered him, "It is written: '^(C1)MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.'"

^(C1)And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of ^(F1)(C2)the world in a moment of time.

And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and ^(F1)its glory, ^(C1)for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want.

"Therefore if You ^(F1)worship before me, it shall all be Yours."

Jesus replied to him, "It is written: '^(C1)YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"

^(C1)And he brought Him into Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;

for it is written: '^(C1)HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS ORDERS CONCERNING YOU, TO PROTECT YOU,'

and, '^(C1)ON THEIR HANDS THEY WILL LIFT YOU UP, SO THAT YOU DO NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'"

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been stated, '^(C1)YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"

And so when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

And ^(C1)Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and ^(C2)news about Him spread through all the surrounding region.

And He began ^(C1)teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

And He came to ^(C1)Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, ^(C2)He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and ^(C3)stood up to read.

And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

"^(C1)THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO BRING GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

^(C1)TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."

And He ^(C1)rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and ^(C2)sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him.

Now He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ^(F1)hearing."

And all the people were ^(F1)speaking well of Him, and admiring the ^(F2)gracious words which were coming from His ^(F3)lips; and yet they were saying, "^(C1)Is this not Joseph's son?"

And He said to them, "No doubt you will ^(F1)quote this proverb to Me: 'Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done ^(C1)in Capernaum, do here in ^(C2)Your hometown as well.'"

But He said, "Truly I say to you, ^(C1)no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

"But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel ^(C1)in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a ^(F1)severe famine came over all the land;

and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to ^(F1)(C1)Zarephath, in the land of ^(C2)Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

"And there were many with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was ^(F1)cleansed, but only ^(C1)Naaman the Syrian."

And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;

and they got up and ^(C1)drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the ^(F1)crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff.

But He ^(C1)passed through their midst and went on His way.

And ^(C1)He came down to ^(C2)Capernaum, a city of Galilee; and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;

and ^(C1)they were amazed at His teaching, because ^(C2)His ^(F1)message was delivered with authority.

In the synagogue there was a man ^(F1)possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

"Leave us alone! ^(F1)(C1)What business do You have with us, Jesus ^(F2)of ^(C2)Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—^(C2)the Holy One of God!"

But Jesus ^(C1)rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm.

And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, "What is ^(F1)this message? For ^(C1)with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!"

And ^(C1)the news about Him was spreading into every locality of the surrounding region.

^(C1)Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon's home. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ^(C2)suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him ^(F1)to help her.

And standing over her, He ^(C1)rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and served them.

^(C1)Now while ^(C2)the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He was ^(C3)laying His hands on each one of them and ^(C4)healing them.

Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, "You are ^(C1)the Son of God!" And yet He was ^(C2)rebuking them and would ^(C3)not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the ^(F1)Christ.

^(C1)Now when day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and they came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them.

But He said to them, "I must also preach the kingdom of God to the other cities, ^(C1)because I was sent for this purpose."

So He kept on preaching in the synagogues ^(C1)of ^(F1)Judea.

^(C1)Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by ^(C2)the lake of Gennesaret;

and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

And ^(C1)He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little distance from the land. And He sat down and continued teaching the crowds from the boat.

Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and ^(C1)let down your nets for a catch."

Simon responded and said, "^(C1)Master, ^(C2)we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but ^(F1)I will do as You say and let down the nets."

And when they had done this, ^(C1)they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear;

so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking.

But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;

and likewise also were ^(F1)James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "^(C1)Do not fear; from now on you will be ^(C2)catching people."

When they had brought their boats to land, ^(C1)they left everything and followed Him.

^(C1)While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ^(F1)covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."

And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately the leprosy left him.

And He ordered him to tell no one, saying, "But go and ^(C1)show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

But ^(C1)the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

But Jesus Himself would often slip away ^(F1)to the ^(F2)wilderness and ^(C1)pray.

^(F1)One day He was teaching, and ^(C1)there were some Pharisees and ^(C2)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(C3)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(C4)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

^(C1)And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him.

But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(C1)the roof and let him down ^(C2)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

And seeing their faith, He said, "^(F1)Friend, ^(C1)your sins are forgiven you."

The scribes and the Pharisees ^(C1)began thinking of the implications, saying, "^(C2)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(C3)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?"

But Jesus, ^(F1)aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, "Why are you thinking this way in your hearts?

"Which is easier, to say: 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

"But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," He said to the ^(C1)man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home."

And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(C1)glorifying God.

And ^(F1)they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(C1)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(C2)with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today!"

^(C1)After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named ^(F1)(C2)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, "Follow Me."

And he ^(C1)left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

And ^(C1)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(C2)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

^(C1)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^(F1)sinners?"

And Jesus answered and said to them, "^(C1)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

"I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners."

And they said to Him, "^(C1)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^(F1)the same, but Yours eat and drink."

And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the ^(F1)attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you?

"^(C1)But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."

And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old.

"And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.

"But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

"And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, 'The old is fine.'"

^(C1)Now it happened that ^(F1)Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and His disciples ^(C2)were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.

But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what ^(C1)is not lawful on the Sabbath?"

And Jesus, answering them, said, "Have you not even read ^(C1)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,

how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the ^(F1)consecrated bread, which ^(C1)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?"

And He was saying to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

^(C1)On another Sabbath He entered ^(C2)the synagogue and taught; and a man was there ^(F1)whose right hand was withered.

Now the scribes and the Pharisees ^(C1)were watching Him ^(F1)closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him.

But He ^(C1)knew ^(F1)what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and ^(F2)come forward!" And he got up and ^(F3)came forward.

And Jesus said to them, "I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?"

And after ^(C1)looking around at them all, He said to him, "Stretch out your hand!" And he did so; and his hand was restored.

But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.

Now it was ^(F1)at this time that He went off to ^(C1)the mountain to ^(C2)pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer with God.

And when day came, ^(C1)He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as ^(C2)apostles:

Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; and ^(F1)James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew;

and ^(C1)Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot;

Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And then Jesus ^(C1)came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was ^(C2)a large crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the coastal region of ^(C3)Tyre and Sidon,

who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled by unclean spirits were being cured.

And all the ^(F1)people were trying to ^(C1)touch Him, because ^(C2)power was coming from Him and healing them all.

And He raised His eyes toward His disciples and began saying, "^(C1)Blessed are ^(F1)you who are poor, for ^(C2)yours is the kingdom of God.

"Blessed are ^(F1)you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are ^(F1)you who weep now, for you will laugh.

"^(C1)Blessed are you when the people hate you, and when they ^(F1)(C2)exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.

"Rejoice on that day and jump for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers used to ^(F1)treat the prophets ^(C2)the same way.

"But woe to ^(C1)you who are rich, for ^(C2)you are receiving your comfort in full.

"Woe to you who ^(F1)are well-fed now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

"Woe to you when all the people speak well of you; for their fathers used to ^(F1)treat the ^(C1)false prophets the same way.