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Then God’s Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness.{He did this in order for} the devil to tempt him. 2 After he had not eaten food for 40 days, he was hungry. 3 Satan, the one who was tempting Jesus, came to him and said, “If you are really the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread {so that you might eat}!” 4 But Jesus said to him, “No! I will not do this, because God has said in the Scriptures which Moses wrote, ‘A person should not live only by eating food. He should also listen to what God has said’” 5 Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, the holy city. He set him on a high part of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are truly the Son of God, cause yourself to fall from here. Surely you will not be hurt, for God has promised in his word,‘God will command his angels to protect you.
They will lift you up in their hands when you are falling,
and they will keep you from hitting your foot on a small stone.’” 7 But Jesus said, “No! I will not jump down, because God has also said in the scriptures, ‘Do not test what the Lord your God can or cannot do.’” 8 Then the devil took him on top of a very high mountain. There he showed him all the nations in the world and the magnificent things in those nations. 9 Then he said to him, “I will let you rule all these nations and give you the magnificent things in them if you bow down and worship me.” 10 But Jesus said to him, “No, I will not worship you, Satan. Leave me! God has said in the scriptures, ‘It is to the Lord your God alone whom you must bow down and worship.‘’ 11 Then the devil went away, and at that moment, angels came to Jesus and began taking care of him.
12 While Jesus was in the region of Judea, John the Baptizer’s disciples came and told him that King Herod had put John in prison. So Jesus returned to the district of Galilee, to the town of Nazareth. 13 Then he left Nazareth and went to live in the city of Capernaum. Capernaum is located beside the Sea of Galilee in the region that formerly belonged to the tribes of Israel named Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 He went to live there so that these words that the prophet Isaiah had written long ago might come true:
15 “The regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,
regions by the Sea, on the eastern side of the Jordan River,
Galilee, home of many non-Israelites
16 The people there are like people who were at one time sitting in darkness, but now they have seen a great light because they now know God.
And while they lived in a region of people who did not know God, now, like a bright light beginning to shine on them, God has revealed himself to them.
17 At that time, while Jesus was in the city of Capernaum, he began to preach to the people, “Cease from your evil ways! For God's rule has come near to us”
18 One day while Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two men, Simon, who was later called Peter, and Andrew, his younger brother. They were casting their fishing net into the water, for they caught fish for work. 19 Then Jesus said to them, "You know how to gather fish, but come with me and I will teach you how to gather people.” 20 They immediately left the work that they were doing and went with him.
21 As the three of them walked on from there, Jesus saw two other men, James and John, the younger brother of James. They were in their boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their fishing nets. Jesus told them that they should leave their work and go with him. 22 Immediately they also left their boat and their father and went with Jesus.
23 Jesus led those four men throughout all of the district of Galilee. He was teaching the people in the synagogues. He was preaching the good news about how God is ruling. He was also healing all the people who were sick. 24 When people who lived in other parts of the region of Syria heard what he was doing, they brought to him people who suffered from illnesses, people who suffered from many kinds of diseases, people who suffered from severe pains, people who were controlled by demons, people who were epileptics, and people who were paralyzed. And Jesus healed them. 25 Then large crowds started to go with him. They were people from Galilee, from the Ten Towns, from the city of Jerusalem, from other parts of the region of Judea, and from areas east of the Jordan River.