Scriptures Plain & Simple (Matthew 4:1-11)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Matthew 4:1-11:

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert,
where he was tested by the devil and ate nothing
       for forty days and forty nights.

When Jesus was about starved, the devil came up and said:
“You claim to be God’s Son,
       so turn these stones into bread!”

“Read the Bible,” said Jesus,
“Nourishment from God’s Word
       is all anyone really needs’.”

Now on the pinnacle of the Jerusalem temple,
       the devil challenged Jesus, “Jump off! —
Like the Bible says, ‘God will send angels
       to protect your feet from the stones’.”

“Read it again,” replied Jesus. “It says,
Don’t ever try to put God to the test!”

Finally, from the top of a high mountain,
the devil pointed out the authority of all earthly kingdoms,
       “They’re yours.’ Just kneel and worship me.”

“Enough of you!” answered Jesus,
       “The Bible teaches us to worship only God.”

So the devil departed,
       and angels descended to wait on Jesus.

Translation commentary on Matthew 4:11

To avoid ambiguity in the phrase left him, Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch identify him as “Jesus.”

Left means “went away from him.” The translators must not take it to mean that he deposited Jesus somewhere.

For comments on and behold, see 1.20. It may be rendered “And then it happened that…” or “and then.”

For comments on angels, see 1.20. In keeping with the promise of protection in Psalm 91.11-14, angels came and ministered to him. Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition identifies these angels as “the angels of God.” According to Matthew, angels come to help Jesus only at the end of the period of forty days, whereas Mark describes them as helping him throughout the entire period of the temptation (Mark 1.13).

The verb ministered (Good News Translation “helped”; Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition “served”) is used elsewhere in the Gospel at 8.15; 20.28 (twice); 25.44; 27.55. For ministered, translators usually use a phrase such as “took care of him,” “helped him,” “took care of his needs,” or “gave him what he needed.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .