Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”
- BSB Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
- NKJV Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
- NASB Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
- NLT Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”
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
Jesus answers the devil's misuse of Scripture by quoting Deuteronomy: God is not to be put to the test. It shows that obedience trusts God rather than demanding He prove Himself.
Overview
In the second temptation the devil himself quotes Scripture, urging Jesus to throw Himself down so angels would catch Him. Jesus refuses, citing Deuteronomy 6:16, and exposes the difference between faith and presumption: testing God is not trust but unbelief in disguise. Where Israel tested God in the wilderness, the true Son trusts the Father, succeeding where the first Adam and Israel failed.
Cross-references & the web
Quotation
- Deut 6:16Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Cross-references · 19
- Deut 6:16Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
- 1 Cor 10:9Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
- Ps 78:18And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
- Ps 78:41Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
- Heb 3:9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
- Exod 17:7And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
- Exod 17:2Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
- Acts 5:9Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
- Ps 106:14But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.
- Ps 78:56Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
- Ps 95:9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
- Num 14:22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
- Mal 3:15And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
- Matt 4:4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
- Isa 8:20To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
- Matt 4:10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
- Matt 22:31–32But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
- Matt 21:42Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
- Matt 21:16And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
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Original language
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