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And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Luke 4:5 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
  • BSB Then the devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
  • NKJV Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
  • NASB And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
  • NLT Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The devil shows Jesus all the world's kingdoms in an instant. He offers a shortcut to glory without the cross.

Overview

In a visionary moment Satan displays the kingdoms of the world, tempting Jesus to seize universal authority by an easier path. The offer bypasses the suffering and obedience through which the Father had appointed Jesus to win the nations. The temptation is to gain the crown without the cross.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • 1 Jn 2:15–16Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
  • Matt 4:8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
  • Ps 73:19How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
  • 1 Cor 15:52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
  • Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
  • Mark 4:8–9And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
  • Eph 6:12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
  • Matt 24:14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
  • 2 Cor 4:17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
  • Eph 2:2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
  • 1 Cor 7:31And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Luke videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Luke 4:5YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on LukeMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.

How Luke 4:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.