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Mat 4 V1 V2 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25
OET (OET-LV) And the one tempting having_approached, said to_him:
If you_are the_son of_ the _god, speak that the these stones may_become loaves.
OET (OET-RV) and the tempter approached him and asked, “If you’re God’s son, command some of these stones to turn into buns.”
In this section, God allowed Satan to tempt Jesus so that Jesus could show that he always obeyed his Father. The children of Israel had failed to obey God during their forty years in the wilderness. But Jesus, as the Messiah, proved his obedience to God during his forty days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. He “passed” this test and demonstrated that he truly was the “Son of God.”
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The temptation of Jesus
The devil tried to make Jesus sin
Jesus was tempted by the devil
There is a parallel passage for this section in Luke 4:1–11, and a shorter version occurs in Mark 1:12–13.
In this paragraph, Matthew reported the first way that the devil tempted Jesus. The devil tempted Jesus to perform a miracle by turning stones into bread to feed himself. The devil wanted Jesus to disobey God by not trusting God. If Jesus had turned the stones into bread at this time when he was fasting, it would have proved that Jesus did not trust his Father to take care of him and meet his most basic needs.
The tempter came to Him and said,
¶ Then the tempter came to him and said,
¶ After this, the devil, the one who tempts, came to him/Jesus and said,
¶ After that time, Satan, the one who tries to make people sin, came to Jesus and said to him that
The Greek of 4:3 begins with a word that is often translated as “And” (ESV). This word indicates that the events in this paragraph occur after the events in 4:1–2. However, the BSB omits this word. In some languages, it may be natural to begin this paragraph with a time word or phrase. For example:
Then (CEV)
After this
The tempter: The phrase The tempter refers to the devil (4:1b). Tempting people is one of his main activities. He is always trying to make people sin.
There are at least three ways to translate this phrase:
Literally. For example:
The tempter
The one who tempts If you choose this option, you may want to include a footnote indicating that The tempter refers to the devil. For example:
The phrase The tempter refers to the devil, the chief of demons. Tempting people is one of his main activities. He is always trying to make people sin.
Literally, but with a word or phrase that makes clear that The tempter is “the devil.” For example:
The tempter (the devil)
The devil, the one who tries to make people sin
Translate as your term for “the devil.” For example:
the devil (CEV)
Satan
The chief of demons
“If You are the Son of God,
“If you really/truly are the Son of God,
“If it is true that you are God’s Son,
he should prove that he was the child of God
If You are the Son of God: Satan said this clause to challenge Jesus to prove that he really was the Son of God. Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God. He was not expressing doubt here. He was saying this to tempt Jesus.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
If you really are the Son of God (JBP)
If it’s true that you are the Son of God
Prove that you are the Son of God
the Son of God: The phrase the Son of God is a title for Jesus. This title indicates that Jesus has the same nature and character as God. It also indicates that the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, his Son, is similar in some way to the relationship between human fathers and sons. God the Father does not have a physical body. He did not have a sexual relationship that resulted in Mary becoming pregnant and giving birth to Jesus.
For further information, see the note on “My…Son” at 3:17b.
tell these stones to become bread.”
order these stones to turn into loaves of bread.”
command these stones to become bread to eat!”
by speaking and making some stones there become food, then eat it.Helovesme2day
tell these stones to become bread: There is some implied information here. The devil wanted Jesus not simply to command the stones to become bread, but actually to turn them into bread. Then he wanted Jesus to eat the bread.
Here are some other ways to make this information explicit:
speak to these stones and cause them to become bread for you.
change these stones into loaves of bread that you can eat.
tell: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as tell is the same verb that usually means “say” or “speak/tell.” Here it is used in the sense of “order” or “command.”
Here are some other ways to translate this verb:
order (GNT)
command (ESV)
these stones: The phrase these stones probably refers to some stones that were near Jesus. The devil probably pointed at some of the stones, or perhaps picked up some of them, as he was talking with Jesus.
bread: The Greek word that the BSB translates as bread refers to pieces or units of bread. Loaves of bread were baked in a round shape and were flat.
In Jesus’ time, bread was the main food of the Jewish people. The bread that the Jews ate was made of wheat or barley flour.
If you do not already have a word for bread in your language, here are some other ways to translate this word:
Use a generic term such as “food.” For example:
food
something to eat
that which you may eat
Borrow the word for bread from the national language or major language in your area.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ὁ πειράζων
the_‹one› tempting
Here, the phrase the one tempting refers to the devil, whom Matthew already mentioned in [4:1](../04/01.md). You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [the one tempting, the devil,] or [the devil, who was tempting him,]
Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-condition-hypothetical
εἰ Υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰπὲ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί προσελθών ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ Εἰ Υἱός εἶ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰπέ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται)
The devil is suggesting that this is a hypothetical condition, that the stones will only become loaves if Jesus is the Son of God. The devil is speaking as if it is uncertain who Jesus is in order to challenge him to do this miracle to prove that he really is the Son of God. Use a natural form in your language for introducing something that could be true. Alternate translation: [Prove that you are the Son of God by speaking so that these stones might become loaves]
Note 3 topic: guidelines-sonofgodprinciples
Υἱὸς & τοῦ Θεοῦ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί προσελθών ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ Εἰ Υἱός εἶ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰπέ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται)
The phrase Son of God is an important title for Jesus.
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
εἰπὲ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί προσελθών ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ Εἰ Υἱός εἶ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰπέ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται)
Here the devil wants Jesus to tell the stones to become bread. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [tell these stones to become bread] or [speak words that make these stones become bread]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / quotations
εἰπὲ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί προσελθών ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ Εἰ Υἱός εἶ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰπέ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται)
It may be more natural in your language to have a direct quotation here. Alternate translation: [speak to these stones, ”Become bread!”]
4:1-11 Parallels between Adam and Jesus are obvious in this account of Jesus’ temptation. Jesus is the second Adam (see Rom 5:12-19) and the second Israel (Matt 2:15). In contrast to the ancient Israelites, he fulfilled Israel’s history by successfully wandering through the desert without sinning. He proved himself the obedient Son of God by defeating Satan in spiritual combat. And because he underwent temptation himself as a human, Jesus is able to sympathize with the temptations we face (see Heb 2:14-18; 4:15) and help us overcome them as he did (1 Cor 10:13).
OET (OET-LV) And the one tempting having_approached, said to_him:
If you_are the_son of_ the _god, speak that the these stones may_become loaves.
OET (OET-RV) and the tempter approached him and asked, “If you’re God’s son, command some of these stones to turn into buns.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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