The Temptation in the Wilderness

Plain English Version (PEV)

Mat 4:1–11

1 Then the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the bush, and the devil tested him there, trying to trick him.
2 Jesus was there for 40 days, and he didn’t eat anything, so he got very hungry.
3 At that time the devil came to him and said, “If you are the son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him, “No. I will not do that. You know what God says. These words are in his book, ‘People don’t live just by eating bread, but they live by every word that God says.’”
5 Then the devil took him to God’s special city, called Jerusalem, and he took him up to the top of the big ceremony house there,
6 and the devil said, “If you are the son of God, jump off. You know, these words are in God’s book, too, ‘God will tell his angel messengers to look after you, and they will hold you up with their hands so you will not even hurt your foot on a stone.’”
7 Jesus said, “No. I will not do that. You see, God says this, too. These words are in his book, ‘Don’t do something stupid just to test God.’”
8 Then the devil took him up to the top of a very high mountain, and from there the devil showed Jesus all the people of the world, in all their countries, with all their great things.
9 And the devil said, “I will give you all of this, all of these people and all of these things, if you will get down on your knees and show respect to me.”
10 Jesus said, “No. I will not do that either. Satan, you go away. This what God says, and these words are in his book, ‘You have to show respect to God. He is the only one, so just do what he says.’”
11 Then the devil went away, and God’s angel messengers came and took care of Jesus.

Mrk 1:12–13

12 He said, “Now is the right time for God to take people into his family. You mob have to take notice and turn right around and live God’s way. You have to believe this good news.”
13 One day, Jesus walked next to a big lake, called Lake Galilee, and he saw 2 men throwing a net into the water to catch fish. That was their job. One man was called Simon and the other was his young brother Andrew.

Luk 4:1–13

1 The Holy Spirit made Jesus very powerful, and he went back to Galilee country. The people that saw him kept telling other people about him, and they told other people, so that soon everyone there heard the news about him.
2 He went to the Jewish meeting houses ever week and taught people about God. They were all happy with him.
3 Then Jesus came to his own community, called Nazareth. That was the town he grew up in. He went to the Jewish meeting house there on Saturday, like he always did, and he stood up to read to the people from God’s book.
4 A helper there gave him the part Isaiah wrote. Isaiah told God’s messages, long ago. Jesus opened the book to the right place and read these words.
5 “God’s spirit came into me. He picked me to tell good news to poor people. He sent me to tell prisoners, ‘You will go free.’ And he sent me to tell blind people, ‘You will see.’ And he sent me to people that are in big trouble, to take their trouble away.
6 He sent me to tell everybody, ‘This is the time now for God to be good to you.’”
7 Then Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the helper there, and sat down. Everybody kept looking straight at Jesus.
8 And he started to teach them, he said, “You just heard me read that message that Isaiah wrote, a long time ago. Well, those things are happening right now, while you are listening to me, today.”
9 All those people started talking together. They said good things about Jesus, and they said, “Wow. He talked real good. But we know this man, he is Joseph’s son.”
10 So Jesus said, “I know what you are going to say next. You are going to use the picture talk that some people use. They say, ‘Doctor, make yourself better, to show us you know how to do it.’ And you mob will say to me, ‘Show us you know how to do powerful things. Do them here, in you own home town, like you did in Capernaum.’
11 Listen, this is true. If God picks a man to tell his messages, the people of his own home town don’t want him. They reckon they know him, so they will not listen to him.
12 Think about these 2 stories in God’s book. Remember the story about God’s man called Elijah. Our people, the Israel nation, did bad things at that time, so God punished them. He blocked the rain. No rain fell for more than 3 years, and no food plants grew in the gardens, so everybody was short of food, and they were very hungry. But God looked after Elijah, and sent him to another place called Zarephath, in Sidon country. God got a widow there to look after Elijah, and God gave that widow enough food for herself, and her son, and Elijah too. Listen, there were a lot of widows in Israel at that time, but God did not save a widow that belonged to Israel, he saved a widow that belonged to Sidon country, not one of us Israel people.
13 And remember the story about God’s man called Elisha, that lived a long time ago. At that time there was a man called Naaman, that belonged to Syria country. He had a bad skin sickness. But Elisha used God’s power to make him better. Listen, there were a lot of people in Israel that had a bad skin sickness at that time, but God made a Syrian man better, not one of us Israel people.”