Translation commentary on Luke 4:1 – 4:2

Exegesis:

Iēsous de ‘and Jesus’ refers back to 3.21f after the genealogy of 3.23-38, as is shown by what follows, see below.

plērēs pneumatos hagiou ‘full of the Holy Spirit,’ qualifies Iēsous. The omission of the article tou before pneumatos does not change the meaning of the phrase, cf. on 1.15. Here the Holy Spirit referred to is the Spirit who had descended upon Jesus after his baptism, cf. 3.22.

plērēs (also 5.12) ‘full’ (cf. also Acts 6.3; 7.55; 11.24). As contrasted with ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ in 1.41, 67 the phrase ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ refers to a permanent condition, not a momentary experience.

hupestrepsen apo tou Iordanou ‘returned from the Jordan,’ i.e. from the place where the events of 3.21f had taken place. It is not indicated whither he returned but the best assumption is to connect this clause with v. 14: Jesus left the place of his baptism in order to return to Galilee where he had come from (cf. Mk. 1.9), but on his way home he remained for 40 days in the wilderness.

kai ēgeto en tō pneumati en tē erēmō ‘and he was led about in the Spirit in the wilderness.’ The imperfect tense of ēgeto is durative. For en tō pneumati cf. on 2.27. The phrase does not mean that the Spirit is the agent (as it is viewed in Mk. 1.12) but rather the guiding principle or instrument.

agō ‘to lead,’ here in the passive, meaning ‘to be led about’: Jesus went, guided by the Holy Spirit, from place to place in the wilderness.

(V. 2a) hēmeras tessarakonta ‘for forty days,’ goes either with ēgeto or with the subsequent peirazomenos ‘being tempted,’ preferably with the former.

peirazomenos hupo tou diabolou ‘being tempted by the devil.’ peirazomenos is coextensive with ēgeto and the phrase refers to temptations preceding those described in vv. 4-13.

peirazō (also 11.16) ‘to put to the test,’ ‘to tempt,’ passive ‘to be tested,’ here with hostile intent.

diabolos lit. ‘the slanderer.’

Translation:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, or, better to bring out the connexion with 3.22, ‘full of the H. Sp. as he was now, Jesus,’ similarly but in co-ordinated sentences in Sranan Tongo; or, ‘after Jesus had (thus) become full of the H. Sp. he.’ For full of the Holy Spirit cf. on “filled with the H. Sp.” in 1.15, where tense and aspect, however, are different.

Returned from the Jordan may require two verbs, ‘left the J. and went back’ (cf. Kituba, Sranan Tongo). Jordan, or, ‘the bank/region of the (river) J..’

And was led … If it is preferable to start a new sentence here, the existing relationship with what precedes (as indicated in Exegesis) may require the use of a transitional phrase such as e.g., ‘As he went home he was led….’

(He) was led by the Spirit for … in …, or, more explicitly, ‘he was led about by the Spirit for … in…’ (cf. Zürcher Bibel, Bible de Jérusalem), ‘he went about (or, he stayed) for … in … with the Spirit as his guide, or, and the Spirit guided him.’

(V. 2a) For forty days, or, ‘during (a period of) forty days.’ The phrase qualifies the verb ‘was led,’ but indirectly also ‘tempted,’ cf. “for forty days was led … and tempted…” (New English Bible). Even a rather small number like 40 may have to be expressed analytically, resulting in such a cumbersome phrase as, ‘the number of a complete hand, the number of a complete foot, and the number of a complete hand, the number of a complete foot, such a number of days’ (Waorani, which, using hand and feet morphemes for ‘five’ and above, can count to 20 and in multiples of 10 or 20).

Tempted by the devil, or expressing the connexion more explicitly, ‘during which days (or, where) he was tempted by the devil’ (or, an active construction); the clause is sometimes better rendered as a co-ordinated one. For to tempt, i.e. ‘to try to make a person sin.’ Some versions use indigenous specific names, ‘the avaricious one’ (Tetelcingo Nahuatl), ‘the malicious deity’ (Toraja-Sa’dan); others have borrowed the name Satan, for which see on 10.18.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 4:1

Section 4:1–13

Satan tempted Jesus

In this section, Luke wrote that the devil (Satan) tempted Jesus, that is, the devil tried to persuade Jesus to do things that God did not want Jesus to do. Luke told about three of those things. Jesus did not do any of the things that the devil suggested. He refused the devil and his temptations by quoting the word of God from the book of Deuteronomy.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

The Temptation of Jesus
-or-
Jesus Is Tempted by the Devil (New Century Version)

There is a parallel passage for this section in Matthew 4:1–11, and a shorter version occurs in Mark 1:12–13.

Paragraph 4:1–2

4:1a

Then: After the baptism of Jesus in 3:21–22, Luke gave a list of Jesus’ ancestors in 3:23–38. This was background information about Jesus. Here in this paragraph, Luke continued the story of Jesus’ life by telling what happened after Jesus was baptized. In some languages, it may be natural to show that this story continues from 3:22 by repeating part of the information in that verse. For example:

⌊After John baptized him, Jesus,⌋

In other languages, it may be natural to begin this paragraph with a time word or phrase, as the Berean Standard Bible and some other English versions do by saying Then. This reflects a connecting word that is in the Greek.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit: The phrase Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit means that the Holy Spirit came to be with Jesus. The Holy Spirit guided Jesus and gave him power to do all that God wanted him to do. Another way to translate this is:

the power of the Holy Spirit was with him (Contemporary English Version)

A similar expression occurs in 1:15c.

the Holy Spirit: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Holy Spirit refers to the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is God, together with God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit is Spirit in the sense that he is a living being who does not have a physical body. He is Holy in the sense that he is divine. He is perfect in every way and is completely pure and sinless. Because of these qualities, he is worthy of awe.

Some other ways to translate Holy Spirit are:

Spirit/Breath of God
-or-
God’s Spirit
-or-
Sacred Spirit

The Holy Spirit is not a ghost of a dead person. Your translation should not imply this or that God has died.

This term also occurs in 3:16d. Translate it the same way in both places. See also holy, sense A2, in Key Biblical Terms.

returned from: In this context, the phrase returned from means “left.” Jesus left the Jordan River where John had baptized him and went into the desert. For example:

he left the Jordan River (God’s Word)

the Jordan: The phrase the Jordan here means the Jordan River.

4:1b

and was led by the Spirit: The verb was led is passive. If it is more natural in your language to use an active verb here, you can say:

the Spirit led him

led: The word led here means “guided” or “directed.”

the Spirit: The word Spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit. This is the same Spirit as in 4:1a.

into the wilderness: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as wilderness refers to a wild or desolate area where few people lived. It was often a dry area, and so some English versions translate the word as “desert.” However, it was not just barren sand and rock. Some wild grasses and bushes grew there.

Some languages have a special word to refer to such an area, such as “the bush” (Africa) or “steppes” (Asia). It may be appropriate to use such a word if it does not have wrong cultural connotations in this context.

This same word occurs in 1:80b and 3:2b.

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