4:10a
“Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus declared: The Berean Standard Bible places the words Jesus declare in the middle of what Jesus said. This is good English style. However, in some languages it may be more natural to put these words at the beginning of 4:10. For example:
Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan!” (English Standard Version)
As in the previous two temptations, Jesus here refused to do what the devil wanted him to do. In some languages, it may be natural to make this explicit. For example:
⌊But⌋ Jesus ⌊refused. He⌋ said to him
Away from Me, Satan!: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Away from Me is a command. Jesus commanded Satan to leave him.
Here are some other ways to translate this command:
Go away, Satan! (Good News Translation)
-or-
Go away from me, Satan! (New Century Version)
It may be more natural in your language to have the name first. For example:
Satan, leave me!
Satan: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Satan is simply a transliteration of the Hebrew word which means “enemy.” Satan is one of the devil’s names. This is the first time in Matthew that the devil is referred to by his name Satan.
You should transliterate the word Satan in a way that sounds natural in your language.
4:10b
For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible here translates as For also means “because.” It introduces the reason clause (4:10c) of a reason-result statement. The result is implied. The implied information is: “I will not worship you.”
result (implied)
⌊I will not worship you,
⌋
reason (4:10c)
for/because it is written that only God is to be worshipped.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
• Translate the implied information and the conjunction. For example:
⌊I will not worship you,⌋ for/because it is written…
-or-
It is written…. ⌊So/Therefore I will not worship you.⌋
• Translate “For it is written…” as a separate sentence and leave the conjunction and relationship implied. For example:
It is written in the Scriptures… (New Century Version)
-or-
Scripture says…. (God’s Word)
it is written: As in 4:4a and 4:6b, Jesus used the phrase it is written to introduce words from the Hebrew Scriptures.
Here is another way to translate this:
The scripture says (Good News Translation)
The quote in 4:10c are words that God gave to Moses, and Moses wrote them down. So you could translate this phrase as:
⌊Moses⌋ wrote
4:10c
‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’: This sentence is a quote from Deuteronomy 6:13. These words were a command to each of the people of Israel. In Greek, the verbs Worship and serve and the pronoun your are singular. However, since the command is given to everyone, in some languages it may be more natural to use the plural forms. For example:
You (plur.) must worship the Lord, who is your God, and obey only him.
-or-
People must worship the Lord their God and serve only him.
Jesus quoted this command in order to tell Satan that he would never worship him. He was declaring that he would obey the Scriptures and only worship the Lord God.
Worship…serve: The two verbs Worship and serve are a doublet. This means that these two words mean almost the same thing. To Worship God is to bow before him and adore him. (See the note on “worship me” in 4:9.) To serve God means to do the things that show that you honor him as your God. These two verbs work together to describe how people should act toward God.
Here are some other ways to translate these verbs:
Bow down to the Lord your God and respect only him.
-or-
You must submit to the Lord your God and honor him alone.
General Comment on 4:10b–c
Jesus was not commanding Satan to worship the Lord. In some languages, a literal translation may imply that Jesus was telling Satan what to do. If that is the case in your language, you may need to say explicitly to whom the command was addressed. For example:
⌊This command to the people of Israel⌋ is written ⌊in God’s book⌋: You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.
Another possibility is to use indirect speech. For example:
The Scripture says that a person must worship the Lord his God and serve only him.
-or-
It is written that we(excl.) must worship the Lord our God and serve him alone.
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