The Skeptics Annotated Bible (805 page)

(4.1)
“Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,”

2
Being forty days tempted of the devil
. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

(4.2)
“Being forty days tempted of the devil.”

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

5 And
the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time.

(4.5) “The devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world.” (The earth was flat in those days.)

6 And the devil said unto him,
All this power will I give thee
, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

(4.6)
“All this power will I give thee.”
161 Who is the Lord of the earth?

7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
him only shalt thou serve.

(4.8) “Him only shalt thou serve.” Jesus misquotes Deuteronomy by adding “only” to Deuteronomy 6.13.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said,
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

(4.12) “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”
103 Can God be tempted?
148 Is it OK to test (or tempt) God?

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

(4.18)
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”
These words were spoken by Isaiah and referred to Isaiah. They were not a prophecy about a future prophet, as Jesus claims here, where he supposedly read these verses in the synagogue while applying them to himself. (See Isaiah 61.1-2)

But the verses that Jesus read are not the same as those in Isaiah 61.1-2, which reads: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.”

Did Jesus add the part about the blind and bruised to the verses he read from Isaiah? Or were they added later?

19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?

23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel
in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months
, when great famine was throughout all the land;

(4.25)
“In the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months.”
237 How long was Elijah’s drought?

26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

(4.28-30) The people of Jesus’ hometown (Nazareth) were so upset at him that they tried to kill him by pushing him off a cliff. But Jesus ran away.

28 And
all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath
,

(4.28)
“All they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath.”