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Matthew 4:4

“But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘A person will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out through the mouth of God.’””

Matthew 4:4 · direct translation from the Greek
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Jesus answers with what is written: people do not live by bread aloneThe Word of GodHungry in the wilderness, Jesus answers the tempter with ScriptureTemptation

With the Greek beneath

4

Quotation · Deuteronomy 8:3

Go to Deuteronomy 8:3

Jesus answers with Deuteronomy 8:3, words said to Israel about its forty years in the wilderness. Where the Hebrew says “everything that comes out of the mouth of YHWH,” Matthew says “every word that comes out through the mouth of God.”

Formula: Γέγραπται “it is written” (Matthew 4:4)

See the original texts

Greek of the New Testament: ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν Γέγραπται Οὐκ ἐπ’ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ

Hebrew (Masoretic text): וַיְעַנְּךָ וַיַּרְעִבֶךָ וַיַּאֲכִלְךָ אֶת הַמָּן אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַעְתָּ וְלֹא יָדְעוּן אֲבֹתֶיךָ לְמַעַן הוֹדִעֲךָ כִּי לֹא עַל הַלֶּחֶם לְבַדּוֹ יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם כִּי עַל כָּל מוֹצָא פִי יְהוָה יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם

Septuagint (Deuteronomy 8:3 in the Septuagint numbering): καὶ ἐκάκωσέν σε καὶ ἐλιμαγχόνησέν σε, καὶ ἐψώμισέν σε τὸ μάννα ὃ οὐκ εἴδησαν οἱ πατέρες σου· ἵνα ἀναγγείλῃ σοι ὅτι οὐκ ἐπ’ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι τῷ ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος.

The Greek of the NT matches the Septuagint word for word in 11 consecutive words: “Οὐκ ἐπ’ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι.”

Septuagint, Swete’s text, First1KGreek transcription (with reading errors), CC BY-SA 4.0

Matthew 4:4, word by word

answeredἀποκριθεὶςapokritheis

answer

To say something back to the one who spoke or asked.

Where else “apokritheis” appears
and saidεἶπενeipen

say

To express something in words to others.

Where else “eipen” appears
“It is writtenΓέγραπταιGegraptai

it is written

So the Bible says; a passage is quoted.

Where else “Gegraptai” appears
‘A personἄνθρωποςanthrōpos

mortal

Humans, weak before God.

Where else “anthrōpos” appears
liveζήσεταιzēsetai

live

To have life in the body, or receive it again after dying.

Where else “zēsetai” appears
breadἄρτῳartōi

bread

A piece of baked bread made from flour: the basic food.

Where else “artōi” appears
aloneμόνῳmonōi

only

Nothing beyond that: bread is not enough to live.

Where else “monōi” appears
wordῥήματιrhēmati

word

What comes out of someone's mouth: a saying, a sentence, a message.

Where else “rhēmati” appears
that comes outἐκπορευομένῳekporeuomenōi

come out

To spring from within, like words from the mouth.

Where else “ekporeuomenōi” appears
the mouthστόματοςstomatos

mouth

The part of the face through which one eats and speaks; also what one says.

Where else “stomatos” appears
of God.’θεοῦtheou

God

The Creator and Lord of all, the one God of Israel.

Where else “theou” appears

Translation note

Jesus answers all three times with Deuteronomy (8:3; 6:16; 6:13), words addressed to Israel about its time in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Parallel passages

Other books that tell the same thing or quote these words.

The temptations of Jesus

Mark 1:12-13Luke 4:1-13

See them side by side

Matthew 4:1-11

1Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tested by the devil. 2And after fasting forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. 3And the one testing him came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘A person will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out through the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil takes him into the holy city and stood him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6and says to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will lift you up, so that you do not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God.’” 8Again the devil takes him to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9and he said to him, “All these things I will give you, if you fall down and bow down before me.” 10Then Jesus says to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall bow down before the Lord your God, and him alone you shall serve.’” 11Then the devil leaves him, and look, angels came and were serving him.

Mark 1:12-13

12And at once the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness. 13And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tested by Satan; and he was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.

Luke 4:1-13

1And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and he was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he did not eat anything in those days, and when they were completed, he was hungry. 3And the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4And Jesus answered him, “It is written: A human being will not live on bread alone.” 5And leading him up, he showed him all the kingdoms of the inhabited world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been handed over to me, and to whomever I wish I give it. 7So if you bow down before me, it will be all yours.” 8And answering, Jesus said to him, “It is written: Before the Lord your God you will bow down, and him alone you will serve.” 9And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; 10for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, 11and: On their hands they will carry you, so that you do not strike your foot against a stone.” 12And answering, Jesus said to him, “It is said: You will not put the Lord your God to the test.” 13And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Quotation · Deuteronomy 8:3

Jesus answers with Deuteronomy 8:3, words said to Israel about its forty years in the wilderness. Where the Hebrew says “everything that comes out of the mouth of YHWH,” Matthew says “every word that comes out through the mouth of God.”

See them side by side

Matthew 4:4

4But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘A person will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out through the mouth of God.’”

Deuteronomy 8:3

3He afflicted you and let you hunger and fed you the manna, which you did not know and your fathers did not know, in order to make you know that not by bread alone does a human being live, but by everything that comes out of the mouth of YHWH does a human being live.

The context

3And the one testing him came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4 · This verse (above)

5Then the devil takes him into the holy city and stood him on the pinnacle of the temple,

Read all of Matthew 4

To study Matthew 4 in a group

  1. 1. What it says

    How did Jesus answer each time the tester spoke to him (vv. 4, 7, 10)?

  2. 2. What it means

    Why does Matthew tell of the testing right before Jesus begins to proclaim the kingdom (vv. 1, 17)?

  3. 3. How I live it

    Jesus called fishermen to follow him (v. 19). What everyday work could you do with more attention to God?

How to use it