The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (70 page)

52
 And
Jesus increased
in wisdom and in stature,
ⁱ
and in favor with God and man.

The Preaching of John the Baptist

3
  
In the fifteenth year
of the reign of
Tibe'rius Caesar
, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturae'a and Trachoni'tis, and Lysa'nias tetrarch of Abile'ne,
²
in
the high-priesthood
of Annas and Cai'aphas,
 
*
the word of God came to John the son of Zechari'ah in the wilderness;
³
and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
⁴
As it is written in the book of the
words of Isaiah
the prophet,

  
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

  
Prepare the way of the Lord,

  
make his paths straight.

 ⁵
Every valley shall be filled,

  
and every mountain and hill shall be brought low,

  
and the crooked shall be made straight,

  
and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

 
⁶
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

7
 He said therefore to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers!
 
*
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
⁸
Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham
as our father
'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
⁹
Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

10
 And the multitudes asked him, "
What then shall we do
?"
¹¹
And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."
¹²
Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"
¹³
And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you."
¹⁴
Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

15
 As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning
John, whether perhaps he were the Christ
,
¹⁶
John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
¹⁷
His
winnowing fork
is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

18
 So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.
¹⁹
But Herod the tetrarch, who had been
reproved by him
for Hero'di-as, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done,
²⁰
added this to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

The Baptism of Jesus

21
 Now when all the people were baptized, and when
Jesus also had been baptized
and was
praying
, the heaven was opened,
²²
and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form,
as a dove
, and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son;
^j
with you I am well pleased."
^k

The Ancestry of Jesus

23
 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about
thirty years of age
,
being the son
(as was supposed) of Joseph,
 
*
the son of He'li,
²⁴
the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jan'na-i, the son of Joseph,
²⁵
the son of Mattathi'as, the son of Amos, the son of Na'hum, the son of Es'li, the son of Nag'ga-i,
²⁶
the son of Ma'ath, the son of Mattathi'as, the son of Sem'e-in, the son of Jo'sech, the son of Jo'da,
²⁷
the son of Jo-an'an, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerub'babel, the son of She-al'ti-el,
^l
the son of Ne'ri,
²⁸
the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Co'sam, the son of Elma'dam, the son of Er,
²⁹
the son of Joshua, the son of Elie'zer, the son of Jo'rim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,
³⁰
the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jo'nam, the son of Eli'akim,
³¹
the son of Me'le-a, the son of Menna, the son of Mat'tatha, the son of Nathan, the
son of David
,
³²
the son of Jesse, the son of O'bed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sa'la, the son of Nahshon,
³³
the son of Ammin'adab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Per'ez, the son of Judah,
³⁴
the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Te'rah, the son of Na'hor,
³⁵
the son of Se'rug, the son of Re'u, the son of Pe'leg, the son of E'ber, the son of She'lah,
³⁶
the son of Ca-i'nan, the son of Arpha'xad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of La'mech,
³⁷
the son of Methu'selah, the son of E'noch, the son of Jar'ed, the son of Maha'lale''el, the son of Ca-i'nan,
³⁸
the son of E'nos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the
son of God
.

The Temptation of Jesus

4
  And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and
was led by the Spirit
²
for
forty days
in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry.
³
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
⁴
And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'
 
"
⁵
And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
⁶
and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
⁷
If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours."
⁸
And Jesus answered him, "It is written,

  
'You shall worship the Lord your God,

  
and him only shall you serve.' "

⁹
And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here;
¹⁰
for it is written,

  
'He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,'

¹¹
and

  
'On their hands they will bear you up,

  
lest you strike your foot against a stone.' "

¹²
And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.' "
¹³
And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him
until an opportune time
.

Jesus Begins Preaching and Teaching in Galilee

14
 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country.
¹⁵
And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

16
 And he came to
Nazareth
, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as was his custom, on the sabbath day.
 
*
And he stood up to read;
¹⁷
and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸
"
The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me,

  
because he has anointed me to preach
good news to the poor
.

  
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

  
and recovering of sight to the blind,

  
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

¹⁹
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

²⁰
And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
²¹
And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
²²
And all spoke well of him, 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 to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Caper'na-um, do here also in your own country.'
 
"
²⁴
And he said, "Truly, I say to you,
no prophet is acceptable
in his own country.
²⁵
But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the
days of Eli'jah
, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;
²⁶
and Eli'jah was sent to none of them but only to Zar'ephath, in the land of Si'don, to a woman who was a widow.
²⁷
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na'aman the Syrian."
²⁸
When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
²⁹
And they rose up and put him
out of the city
, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.
³⁰
But passing through the midst of them he went away.

The Man with an Unclean Spirit

31
 And he went down to
Caper'na-um
, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the sabbath;
³²
and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority.
³³
And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice,
³⁴
"Ah!
^m
What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."
³⁵
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
³⁶
And they were all amazed and said to one another, "What is this word? For
with authority and power
he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."
³⁷
And reports of him went out into every place in the surrounding region.