The big picture
Jesus has been baptized and named God's Son by a heavenly voice. Now God's Spirit leads him into the wilderness. The devil tests him through hunger, a demand for proof, and an offer of power. Jesus refuses each path and remains faithful to God. He then begins preaching in Galilee, a northern region, after John the Baptist, the preacher who prepared his way, is imprisoned. Fishermen leave their work to follow him, while teaching and healing draw crowds from many places.
In this chapter
- The Devil’s Tests Meet Faithful Refusal Matthew 4:1-11
The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, where the devil tempts him after forty days without food.
- Light Appears as Jesus Begins to Preach Matthew 4:12-17
Hearing that John has been imprisoned, Jesus goes to Galilee.
- Four Fishermen Leave Their Work to Follow Matthew 4:18-22
Walking beside the lake, Jesus sees Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew casting a net.
- Large Crowds Come for Teaching and Healing Matthew 4:23-25
Jesus travels across Galilee, teaching in local worship gatherings and announcing the good news of God's kingdom.
Central truth
Jesus refuses power apart from faithfulness to God, then announces God’s near rule and gathers followers through his call, teaching, and healing.
Scripture beside the summary
Matthew · King James Version · 25Matthew 4:1-11
The Devil’s Tests Meet Faithful Refusal
The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, where the devil tempts him after forty days without food. He is urged to turn stones into bread to prove his sonship. Jesus answers that life depends on God's word as well as food. At the temple in the holy city, the devil uses Scripture to urge a leap demanding angelic rescue. Jesus refuses to test God. Finally, he is offered the world's kingdoms in exchange for worshipping the devil. He commands Satan, another name for the tempter, to leave, insisting on worship of God alone. The devil departs, and angels care for Jesus.
In everyday life
A relief-supply manager faces an urgent shortage. She refuses supplies offered on condition that a corrupt sponsor takes control. The need is real, but the condition would change whom the work serves. She turns down the goods and keeps seeking a faithful way forward. Jesus confronts the devil with God's word, not a sponsor whose offer has merely human limits.
Notice
Matthew 4:6 The devil also appeals to Scripture during the test. Sacred words do not make every proposal faithful. Here they are used to demand that God prove himself.
Matthew 4:1-11
King James Version1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Matthew 4:12-17
Light Appears as Jesus Begins to Preach
Hearing that John has been imprisoned, Jesus goes to Galilee. He leaves Nazareth, his home town, and settles in Capernaum beside the lake. The area belongs to the old tribal regions of Zabulon and Nephthalim. Matthew connects this place with Esaias, an earlier prophet, and his promise of light for people living in darkness and death's shadow. Jesus begins calling people to turn from sin because heaven's kingdom, God's rule, is near. The message is now spoken by the one John announced. A threatened preacher's imprisonment does not end the call to return to God.
In everyday life
A literacy teacher opens evening classes in a district long left without a school after the earlier organiser is forced to stop. People who had few routes to learning find a door open near their homes. The work continues in a new place. Matthew presents Jesus as the fulfilment of prophetic light, not education that a teacher can provide.
Notice
Matthew 4:16 The people in darkness see light where they already live. Matthew ties the promise to the place Jesus enters, rather than to a move the crowd must first make.
Matthew 4:12-17
King James Version12Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 4:18-22
Four Fishermen Leave Their Work to Follow
Walking beside the lake, Jesus sees Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew casting a net. They earn their living by fishing. He calls them to follow and promises to make them people who gather others, using their trade as the image. They leave the nets at once. Farther on, he sees James and John, brothers repairing nets with Zebedee, their father, in a boat. He calls them too. They leave both boat and father to follow. The response has a cost in work and family setting; the call becomes a changed life, not only interest in a new teacher.
In everyday life
A fishing apprentice lays down his net. He has been offered a place in a demanding rescue training team. He leaves familiar work to learn a task whose full demands he does not yet know. The decision is visible in the tools set aside. Jesus calls disciples to gather people under his authority, not recruits for a human service.
Notice
Matthew 4:22 The second pair leave their father as well as the boat. Their response changes real ties. It is not only a new idea added to the workday.
Matthew 4:18-22
King James Version18And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
Matthew 4:23-25
Large Crowds Come for Teaching and Healing
Jesus travels across Galilee, teaching in local worship gatherings and announcing the good news of God's kingdom. He heals every kind of illness and disease brought to him. News reaches Syria, a neighbouring region, and people bring those in severe pain, those troubled by demons, and those with disabling conditions. He heals them. Great crowds follow from the local area, Jerusalem and Judaea to the south, the Decapolis region of towns, and lands across Jordan, the river. Teaching and bodily care appear together. The kingdom is announced through words and through relief that people can see in suffering lives.
In everyday life
A mobile-clinic nurse watches families arrive from several towns after word spreads that care is available where they live. She moves between explaining treatment and attending to pain. The crowd's growth follows the need people bring. Jesus heals through his own authority while announcing God's kingdom, not through a clinic's limited staff, medicines, and capacity.
Notice
Matthew 4:24 The report names different forms of suffering rather than one favoured kind of patient. Jesus' healing draws people whose needs cross the usual boundaries of the local crowd.
Matthew 4:23-25
King James Version23And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Matthew 4:1 begins with “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”
Where the chapter turns
Matthew 4:12 forms a natural hinge: “Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;”
The final note
Matthew 4:25 leaves the reader with “And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Jesus, Galilee, devil, people, written, followed help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- an hungred
- Hungry after a period without enough food.
- pinnacle
- A high projecting point of a building.
- synagogues
- Local Jewish meeting places for worship and instruction.
- palsy
- Paralysis or a condition that leaves parts of the body unable to move.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
Light upon GalileeMatthew 4:12-25Listen to related music →
It is WrittenMatthew 4:1-11Listen to related music →
Not by Bread AloneMatthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13Listen to related music →
Leave the NetsMatthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11; John 1:35-51Listen to related music →It Is WrittenMatthew 4:1–11Watch a related video →