Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Matthew 4:3

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

KJV

καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ, εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰπὲ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται.

Greek NT

Et accedens tentator dixit ei : Si Filius Dei es, dic ut lapides isti panes fiant.

Vulgate

And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

ASV

And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

15 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

αὐτός
autos
pronoun · 5564×
γίνομαι
ginomai
verb · 667×
εἰ
ei
conditional · 491×
εἰμί
eimi
verb · 2461×
θεός
theos
noun · 1311×
καί
kai
conjunction · 8973×
λέγω
lego
verb · 2256×
λίθος
lithos
noun · 60×
οὗτος
outos
demonstrative · 1380×
πειράζω
peirazo
verb · 38×
προσέρχομαι
proserchomai
verb · 87×
υἱός
uios
noun · 375×
ἄρτος
artos
noun · 97×
ἵνα
ina
conjunction · 665×
ὁ
o
article · 19778×

Textual variants

1 variant unit attested by manuscript witnesses and modern critical editions.

minor
SBLGNT: ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ | WH/Treg/NIV: ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ | RP: αὐτῷ ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν
  • ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ — SBLGNT
  • ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • αὐτῷ ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν — Robinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus

Themes

Historic Christian voices

10 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§394Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls "a murderer from the beginning", who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father.273 "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."274 In its consequences the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God.
§2849Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony.159 In this petition to our heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the heart in communion with his own. Vigilance is "cu…
Explanation of the words of Christ, No man knows the Father, but the Son, etc.; which words the heretics misinterpret. Proof that, by the Father revealing the Son, and by the Son being revealed, the Father was never unknown. 1. For the Lord, revealing Himself to His disciples, that He Himself is the Word, who imparts knowledge of the Father, and reproving the Jews, who imagined…
Christ is the head of all things already mentioned. It was fitting that He should be sent by the Father, the Creator of all things, to assume human nature, and should be tempted by Satan, that He might fulfil the promises, and carry off a glorious and perfect victory. 1. He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, an…
2. Having then found Him in the wilderness, and in a pathless wilderness (for that the wilderness was such, Mark has declared, saying, that He was with the wild beasts Mark 1:13), behold with how much craft he draws near, and wickedness; and for what sort of opportunity he watches. For not in his fast, but in his hunger he approaches Him; to instruct you how great a good fastin…
Chapter 21.—To What Extent the Lord Was Pleased to Make Himself Known to the Demons. The devils themselves knew this manifestation of God so well, that they said to the Lord though clothed with the infirmity of flesh, “What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us before the time?”360360 Mark i. 24. From these words, it is clear that they had grea…
73. It is written, 'The Lord in Wisdom founded the earth Proverbs 3:19;' if then by Wisdom the earth is founded, how can He who founds be founded? Nay, this too is said after the manner of proverbs , and we must in like manner investigate its sense; that we may know that, while by Wisdom the Father frames and founds the earth to be firm and steadfast , Wisdom Itself is founded …
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and me…

Cross-references

  • 1Chr 21:1 — And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
  • 1Thess 3:5 — For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.
  • 1Thess 3:5 — For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.
  • Acts 9:20 — And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
  • Gen 3:1 — Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
  • Gen 3:1 — Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
  • Heb 7:3 — Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
  • Jas 4:7 — Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
  • Job 1:9 — Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
  • Job 2:4 — And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
  • John 1:34 — And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
  • John 20:31 — But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
  • Luke 1:35 — And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be c
  • Luke 4:3 — And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
  • Luke 4:41 — And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.
  • Luke 22:31 — And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
  • Mark 1:1 — The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
  • Mark 3:11 — And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.
  • Mark 5:7 — And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
  • Matt 3:17 — And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
  • Matt 8:29 — And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
  • Matt 14:33 — Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
  • Matt 16:16 — And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
  • Matt 27:40 — And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
  • Matt 27:54 — Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
  • Num 11:4 — And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
  • Ps 78:17 — And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
  • Rev 2:10 — Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and
  • Rev 2:18 — And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
  • Rev 12:9 — And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
  • Zech 10:5 — And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confoun