Matius 3:13--4:11

The Baptism of Jesus

3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River. ¹  3:14 But John ²  tried to prevent ³  him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” 3:15 So Jesus replied ⁴  to him, “Let it happen now, ⁵  for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John ⁶  yielded ⁷  to him. 3:16 After ⁸  Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the ⁹  heavens ¹⁰  opened ¹¹  and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove ¹²  and coming on him. 3:17 And ¹³  a voice from heaven said, ¹⁴  “This is my one dear Son; ¹⁵  in him ¹⁶  I take great delight.” ¹⁷ 

The Temptation of Jesus

4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness ¹⁸  to be tempted by the devil. 4:2 After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished. ¹⁹  4:3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” ²⁰  4:4 But he answered, ²¹  “It is written, ‘Man ²²  does not live ²³  by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ²⁴  4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, ²⁵  had him stand ²⁶  on the highest point ²⁷  of the temple, 4:6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ ²⁸  and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” ²⁹  4:7 Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’” ³⁰  4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur. ³¹  4:9 And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship ³²  me.” 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, ³³  Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” ³⁴  4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels ³⁵  came and began ministering to his needs.

[3:13]  ¹ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[3:14]  ² tc ‡ The earliest mss (א* B sa) lack the name of John here (“but he tried to prevent him,” instead of “but John tried to prevent him”). It is, however, clearly implied (and is thus supplied in translation). Although the longer reading has excellent support (Ì⁹⁶ א¹ C D^s L W 0233 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat[t] sy mae bo), it looks to be a motivated and predictable reading: Scribes apparently could not resist adding this clarification.

[3:14]  ³ tn The imperfect verb has been translated conatively.

[3:15]  ⁴ tn Grk “but Jesus, answering, said.” This construction with passive participle and finite verb is pleonastic (redundant) and has been simplified in the translation to “replied to him.”

[3:15]  ⁵ tn Grk “Permit now.”

[3:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:15]  ⁷ tn Or “permitted him.”

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[3:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “behold the heavens.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[3:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ourano") may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The same word is used in v. 17.

[3:16]  ¹¹ tc ‡ αὐτῷ (autw, “to/before him”) is found in the majority of witnesses (א¹ C D^s L W 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat), perhaps added as a point of clarification or emphasis. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[3:16]  ¹² sn The phrase like a dove is a descriptive comparison. The Spirit is not a dove, but descended like one in some sort of bodily representation.

[3:17]  ¹³ tn Grk “and behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated here.

[3:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “behold, a voice from the cloud, saying.” This is an incomplete sentence in Greek which portrays intensity and emotion. The participle λέγουσα (legousa) was translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style.

[3:17]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “my beloved Son,” or “my Son, the beloved [one].” The force of ἀγαπητός (agaphtos) is often “pertaining to one who is the only one of his or her class, but at the same time is particularly loved and cherished” (L&N 58.53; cf. also BDAG 7 s.v. 1).

[3:17]  sn The parallel accounts in Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22 read “You are” rather than “This is,” portraying the remark as addressed personally to Jesus.

[3:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “in whom.”

[3:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “with whom I am well pleased.”

[3:17]  sn The allusions in the remarks of the text recall Ps 2:7a; Isa 42:1 and either Isa 41:8 or, less likely, Gen 22:12,16. God is marking out Jesus as his chosen one (the meaning of “[in him I take] great delight”), but it may well be that this was a private experience that only Jesus and John saw and heard (cf. John 1:32-33).

[4:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “desert.”

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry.”

[4:3]  ²⁰ tn Grk “say that these stones should become bread.”

[4:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “answering, he said.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of the phrase has been changed for clarity.

[4:4]  ²² tn Or “a person.” Greek ὁ ἄνθρωπος (Jo anqrwpo") is used generically for humanity. The translation “man” is used because the emphasis in Jesus’ response seems to be on his dependence on God as a man.

[4:4]  ²³ tn Grk “will not live.” The verb in Greek is a future tense, but it is unclear whether it is meant to be taken as a command (also known as an imperatival future) or as a statement of reality (predictive future).

[4:4]  ²⁴ sn A quotation from Deut 8:3.

[4:5]  ²⁵ sn The order of the second and third temptations differs in Luke’s account (4:5-12) from the order given in Matthew.

[4:5]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and he stood him.”

[4:5]  ²⁷ sn The highest point of the temple probably refers to the point on the temple’s southeast corner where it looms directly over a cliff some 450 ft (135 m) high. However, some have suggested the reference could be to the temple’s high gate.

[4:6]  ²⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 91:11. This was not so much an incorrect citation as a use in a wrong context (a misapplication of the passage).

[4:6]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 91:12.

[4:7]  ³⁰ sn A quotation from Deut 6:16.

[4:8]  ³¹ tn Grk “glory.”

[4:9]  ³² tn Grk “if, falling down, you will worship.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[4:10]  ³³ tc The majority of later witnesses (C² D L Z 33 Ï) have “behind me” (ὀπίσω μου; opisw mou) after “Go away.” But since this is the wording in Matt 16:23, where the text is certain, scribes most likely added the words here to conform to the later passage. Further, the shorter reading has superior support (א B C*^vid K P W Δ 0233 Ë^1,13 565 579* 700 al). Thus, both externally and internally, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.

[4:10]  ³⁴ sn A quotation from Deut 6:13. The word “only” is an interpretive expansion not found in either the Hebrew or Greek (LXX) text of the OT.

[4:11]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and behold, angels.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).