Paragraph 4:5–8

In this paragraph, Luke reported another way that the devil tempted Jesus. The devil tempted Jesus to make an agreement with him.

4:5a

Then: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then is a conjunction that is often translated as “and.” Some English versions, such as the English Standard Version, translate it that way. Other versions, such as the New International Version and NET Bible, do not translate this conjunction here. But since the events in this paragraph occur after the events in 4:3–4, in some languages, it may be natural to begin this paragraph with a time word or phrase. That is why the Berean Standard Bible and other translations (NET Bible, Good News Translation, etc.) translate the conjunction as “then.” Connect 4:4a to 4:3b in a way that is natural in your language.

the devil led Him up: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as led Him up can also be translated as “took him up,” as in the Good News Translation. Another way to translate this is:

brought him up

up to a high place: The phrase to a high place is not in Greek. Some English versions add a phrase to explain the specific meaning of the word up in this context.

The parallel passage in Matthew 4:8 says that the devil took Jesus to “a very high mountain.” In some languages a word such as up alone may imply a wrong meaning. If that is true in your language, you may want to use a more specific phrase, as the Berean Standard Bible has done. However, since Luke did not include the phrase to a high place, you do not have to translate it here unless your language requires it.

4:5b

and showed Him: The devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. This was a supernatural showing.

in an instant: The phrase in an instant means that Jesus saw all the countries at once. Some other ways to translate this are:

in a moment
-or-
in single/brief moment of time

all the kingdoms of the world: The phrase all the kingdoms of the world means “all the countries/nations on the earth.” For example:

all the nations on earth (Contemporary English Version)

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.