Translation Chapter 4
‘Īsā al-Masīh (hpbuu)is tempted by Iblīs
4‘Īsā returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit[1], and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2for forty days, to be tempted by Iblīs[2]. He did not eat anything in these days, and when they were completed he was hungry.
3Iblīs said to him, ‘If you are the spiritual Son of Allah[3], tell this stone to become bread.’
4‘Īsā answered him, ‘It is written, “Mankind cannot live on bread alone[4].”’
5Then Iblīs took ‘Īsā up and showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world. 6 Iblīs said to him, ‘I will give you all this authority and all their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to anyone I wish. 7If you prostrate yourself before me, it will all be yours.’
8‘Īsā answered him, ‘It is written, “You shall prostrate yourself before the Lord your God, and you shall serve only him[5].”’
9 Iblīs took him into Jerusalem and set him on the highest point of al-Bayt ul-Muqaddas. He said to ‘Īsā, “If you are the spiritualSon of Allah, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you – to protect you, 11and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not even dash your foot against a stone[6].’”
12‘Īsā answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test[7].’”
13Then Iblīs, having finished all this tempting, left him until another opportunity came.
‘Īsā al-Masīh (hpbuu)preaches in the synagogue[8]in Nazareth
14 ‘Īsā then returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. News about him spread throughout the whole region. 15He taught in their synagogues and received praise from everyone.
16He came to Nazareth where he had grown up. On the Sabbath[9]he entered the synagogue as usual, and he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah[10]was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written,
18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
to tell the good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom to prisoners,
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour[12].”
20 Then, rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on him. 21He began by saying to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled as you are hearing it[13].’
22 Everyone was speaking well of him, and they marvelled at the gracious words that came from his mouth. ‘Isn’t this Yūsuf’s son?’ they asked.
23He said to them, ‘No doubt you will quote this proverb to me, “Doctor, heal yourself.” And you’ll say to me, “Do here in your home town what we heard happened in Kfar Nāhūm.”’
24He said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is welcomed in his home town. 25I tell you the truth, there were many widows in Isrā’īl in the days of Ilyās, when the sky was shut for three years and six months, and there was a great famine in the entire land. 26Yet Ilyās was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Saydā[14].27 And there were many people with leprosy[15]in Isrā’īl in the time of the prophet Al-Yasa’. Yet none of them were made clean, but only Naaman the Syrian[16].’
28Everyone in the synagogue was filled with rage when they heard this. 29They got up and threw him out of the town. Then they took him to the edge of the cliff on which their town was built, to throw him down. 30But ‘Īsā passed through the middle of the crowd and left.
‘Īsā al-Masīh(hpbuu)drives out a jinn
31‘Īsā went into Kfar Nāhūm, a town of Galilee. He taught people on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, because his message had authority.
33In the synagogue there was a man who had a jinn[17]. It shouted out in a loud voice, 34‘Hey! What have you to do with us, ‘Īsā of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are the Holy One of Allah!’
35‘Īsā commanded the jinn, ‘Be quiet and come out of him!’
The jinn threw the man down into the midst of the people, and came out without harming him.
36Everyone was amazed and they kept saying to each other, ‘What is this message? With authority and power, he commands jinn[18]and they come out!’
37So the news about ‘Īsā went out everywhere in that area.
‘Īsā al-Masīh(hpbuu)heals many people
38‘Īsā left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, so they asked ‘Īsā about her. 39He stood by her and ordered the fever to depart, and it left her. She got up at once and began to serve them.
40As the sun was setting, everyone whose relatives were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to ‘Īsā. He placed his hands on each one of them and healed them. 41 Even jinn[19]were coming out from many people shouting out, “You are the spiritualSon of Allah![20]”
He spoke to them severely and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was al-Masīh.
Al-Masīh ‘Īsā’s mission to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of Allah
42At daybreak, ‘Īsā left and went to a lonely place. Then a large group of people came looking for him, and when they reached him, they tried to hold on to him to keep him from leaving them. 43But he said to them, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of Allah[21]to other towns too. It’s for this purpose that I was sent.’ 44 So he went around preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
[1]Rūh ul-Quddus. or Allah’s Spirit, in this instance not to be confused with Angel Jibrīl (pbuh)or another angel. See Qur’an, al-Baqarah 2:87, ‘We... strengthened him (‘Īsā son of Maryam)with the Holy Spirit’. See also al-Baqarah 2:253, al-Mā’idah 5:110. Also, v18.
[2]Or, ‘the Devil’, or ‘Shaytān’.
[3](Also in v9) We have translated ‘huios tou theou’ from the original Greek as ‘spiritualSon of Allah’ to show that this is not a physical or biological son-ship, but a spiritual son-ship that is spoken of. For more discussion on this see Appendix B, ‘The Translation: “spiritualSon of Allah”‘.
[8]A synagogue was a building for Jewish religious gatherings.
[9]The Sabbath was the seventh day of the week (Saturday) and was the day Allah had commanded the Ban-i Isrā’īl to set aside as a day of rest and worship. See Taurāt, Exodus 20:8-11, Leviticus 23:3,
There are six days in which to do work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day for holy assembly. You must not do any work.
[10]‘Īsā al-Masīh (hpbuu)read from theBook of the ProphetIsaiah 61:1-2.
[11]This word from the original Hebrew of this passage is, māshah. From this the word, Masīh (Messiah) comes, which means ‘Anointed One.’ Anointing was the action of pouring and rubbing olive oil onto a person or thing, often a person’s head. Among the ancient Isrā’īlites it symbolised that the person or thing being anointed was being set apart for special and holy service for Allah, and also being given power from Allah to perform that service. At the beginning of their public service imāms, kings, and at least on one occasion, a prophet, were anointed (Taurāt, Leviticus 8:12, 1stBook of the Prophet Samuel 16:13, 1stBook of Kings 19:16).This is a prophecy about al-Masīh. For more detail, see Appendix C, ‘The Title: “Al-Masīh”‘.
[12]‘the year of the Lord’s favour’ refers to the Jubilee which the Taurāt commanded for the Ban-i Isrā’īl every 50 years. It was a year when slaves were liberated and debts cancelled, and people who had had to sell land due to poverty had that land returned to them. See Taurāt, Leviticus 25:8-55.
[13]Prophet ‘Īsā (hpbuu)is claiming that this prophecy about the Anointed One or al-Masīh is fulfilled in him. The Qur’an also attributes the title ‘al-Masīh’ exclusively to ‘Īsā ibn Maryam (hpbuu)eleven times (Āl-’Imrān3:45, an-Nisā’ 4:157, 171, 172, al-Mā’idah 5:17 [twice], 72 [twice], 75, at-Tawbah, al-Barā’ah 9:30, 31).
[14]See 1stBook of Kings 17:8-16.
[15]The word translated ’leprosy’ was used for various kinds of diseases affecting the skin. Certain kinds of skin disease made a person ritually unclean. See Taurāt, Leviticus 13:1-46. A person with a defiling skin disease was cut off from society.
[16]See 2ndBook of Kings 5:1-19. Both the widow in Zarephath, Saydāand Naaman the Syrian were not from the Ban-i Isrā’īl.
[17]Or ‘spirit of an unclean demon’.
[20]We have translated ‘huios tou theou’ from the original Greek as ‘spiritualSon of Allah’ to show that this is not a physical or biological son-ship, but a spiritual son-ship that is spoken of. For more discussion on this see Appendix B, ‘The Translation: “spiritual Son of Allah”‘.
[21]Or, ‘reign of Allah’. Allah SWT always has reigned and always will reign. However, many Jews of al-Masīh ‘Īsā’s day were waiting and hoping for the age to come when Allah’s reign would be complete and unopposed. At that time, Allah would completely overthrow evil, put the world right and rescue his people from their pagan enemies. In line with this, ‘Īsā al-Masīh (hpbuu)taught that the Kingdom would come in completeness at the qiyāmat or resurrection. However, he also redefined the concept of ‘kingdom of Allah’ by identifying it with his own coming and mission. For more detail, see Appendix D, ‘The Kingdom of Allah’.