KJV: And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
YLT: And the Tempter having come to him said, 'If Son thou art of God -- speak that these stones may become loaves.'
Darby: And the tempter coming up to him said, If thou be Son of God, speak, that these stones may become loaves of bread.
ASV: And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.
| προσελθὼν | having come |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: προσέρχομαι Sense: to come to, approach. |
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| πειράζων | [one] tempting |
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Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: πειράζω Sense: to try whether a thing can be done. |
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| εἶπεν | he said |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to speak, say. |
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| αὐτῷ | to Him |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Singular Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
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| Υἱὸς | Son |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: υἱός Sense: a son. |
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| εἶ | You are |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 2nd Person Singular Root: εἰμί Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present. |
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| τοῦ | - |
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Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| Θεοῦ | of God |
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Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: θεός Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities. |
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| εἰπὲ | speak |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to speak, say. |
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| ἵνα | that |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: ἵνα Sense: that, in order that, so that. |
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| λίθοι | stones |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: λίθος Sense: a stone. |
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| οὗτοι | these |
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Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: οὗτος Sense: this. |
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| ἄρτοι | loaves of bread |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: ἄρτος Sense: food composed of flour mixed with water and baked. |
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| γένωνται | might become |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Middle, 3rd Person Plural Root: γίνομαι Sense: to become, i. |
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Greek Commentary for Matthew 4:3
More exactly, “If thou art Son of God,” for there is no article with “Son.” The devil is alluding to the words of the Father to Jesus at the baptism: “This is my Son the Beloved.” He challenges this address by a condition of the first class which assumes the condition to be true and deftly calls on Jesus to exercise his power as Son of God to appease his hunger and thus prove to himself and all that he really is what the Father called him. [source]
Literally, “that these stones (round smooth stones which possibly the devil pointed to or even picked up and held) become loaves” (each stone a loaf). It was all so simple, obvious, easy. It would satisfy the hunger of Christ and was quite within his power.It is written (γεγραπται gegraptai). Perfect passive indicative, stands written and is still in force. Each time Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to repel the subtle temptation of the devil. Here it is Deuteronomy 8:3 from the Septuagint. Bread is a mere detail (Bruce) in man‘s dependence upon God. [source]
Perfect passive indicative, stands written and is still in force. Each time Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to repel the subtle temptation of the devil. Here it is Deuteronomy 8:3 from the Septuagint. Bread is a mere detail (Bruce) in man‘s dependence upon God. [source]
Lit., loaves or cakes. So Wyc., loaves. These stones were perhaps those “silicious accretions,” which assume the exact shape of little loaves of bread, and which were represented in legend as the petrified fruits of the cities of the plain. By a similar fancy certain crystallizations on Mount Carmel and near Bethlehem are called “Elijah's melons,” and the “Virgin Mary's peas;” and the black and white stones found along the shores of the Lake of Galilee have been transformed into traces of the tears of Jacob in search of Joseph. The very appearance of these stones, like the bread for which the faint body hungered, may have added force to the temptation. This resemblance may have been present to Christ's mind in his words at Matthew 7:9. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 4:3
Rev. for bread reads loaf, which is better. On the resemblance of certain stones to cakes of bread, see on Matthew 4:3. [source]
Lit., speak; i.e., with authority. Compare “command these stones,” Matthew 4:3; “bid you Matthew 23:3. Rev., command. [source]
More exactly, “If thou art a son of God,” the very language of the devil to Jesus (Matthew 4:3) in the early temptations, now hurled at Jesus under the devil‘s prompting as he hung upon the Cross. There is allusion, of course, to the claim of Jesus under oath before the Sanhedrin “the Son of God” (ο υιος του τεου ho huios tou theou) and a repetition of the misrepresentation of his words about the temple of his body. It is a pitiful picture of human depravity and failure in the presence of Christ dying for sinners. [source]
Some stones look like loaves of bread. So the devil suggested that Jesus make loaves out of stones (Matthew 4:3). [source]
Matthew locates the temptation at a definite time, “then” Judas has this term applied to him (John 6:70) as it is to men (2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3) and women (she devils, 1 Timothy 3:11) who do the work of the arch slanderer. There are those today who do not believe that a personal devil exists, but they do not offer an adequate explanation of the existence and presence of sin in the world. Certainly Jesus did not discount or deny the reality of the devil‘s presence. The word “tempt” here (πειραζω peirazō) and in Matthew 4:3 means originally to test, to try. That is its usual meaning in the ancient Greek and in the Septuagint. Bad sense of εκπειραζω ekpeirazō in Matthew 4:7 as in Deuteronomy 6:16. Here it comes to mean, as often in the New Testament, to solicit to sin. The evil sense comes from its use for an evil purpose. [source]
Lit., a loaf. See on Matthew 4:3. Matthew has the plural loaves. [source]
No article as in Matthew 4:3. So refers to the relationship as Son of God rather than to the office of Messiah. Manifest reference to the words of the Father in Luke 3:22. Condition of the first class as in Matthew. The devil assumes that Jesus is Son of God. [source]
Perhaps pointing to a particular round stone that looked in shape and size like a loaf of bread. Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, p. 154) on Mt. Carmel found crystallizations of stones called “Elijah‘s melons.” The hunger of Jesus opened the way for the diabolic suggestion designed to inspire doubt in Jesus toward his Father. Matthew has “these stones.”Bread (αρτος artos). Better “loaf.” For discussion of this first temptation, see note on Matthew 4:3. Jesus felt the force of each of the temptations without yielding at all to the sin involved. See discussion on Matthew also for reality of the devil and the objective and subjective elements in the temptations. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 in reply to the devil. [source]
Better “loaf.” For discussion of this first temptation, see note on Matthew 4:3. Jesus felt the force of each of the temptations without yielding at all to the sin involved. See discussion on Matthew also for reality of the devil and the objective and subjective elements in the temptations. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 in reply to the devil. [source]
First aorist active participle of επαιρω epairō See the same phrase in John 4:35 where it is also followed by τεαομαι theaomai John 11:41; John 17:1; Luke 6:20. Here it is particularly expressive as Jesus looked down from the mountain on the approaching multitude. Cometh unto him Present middle indicative, “is coming to him.” The same οχλος πολυς ochlos polus (here πολυς οχλος polus ochlos) of John 6:2 that had followed Jesus around the head of the lake. Whence are we to buy? Deliberative subjunctive (aorist active). John passes by the earlier teaching and healing of the Synoptics (Mark 6:34.; Matthew 14:14.; Luke 9:11.) till mid-afternoon. In John also Jesus takes up the matter of feeding the multitude with Philip (from the other Bethsaida, John 1:44) whereas in the Synoptics the disciples raise the problem with Jesus. So the disciples raise the problem in the feeding of the four thousand (Mark 8:4; Matthew 15:33). See Numbers 11:13-22 (about Moses) and 2 Kings 4:42. (about Elisha). Bread “Loaves” (plural) as in Matthew 4:3. That these may eat Purpose clause with ινα hina and the second aorist active subjunctive of εστιω esthiō (defective verb). [source]
See Matthew 6:4, Matthew 6:6 for this phrase. Openly “In public” See Matthew 8:32. Common in John (John 7:13, John 7:26; John 10:24; John 16:25, John 16:29; John 18:20; here again contrasted with en kruptōi). It is wise advice in the abstract that a public teacher must allow inspection of his deeds, but the motive is evil. They might get Jesus into trouble. εν κρυπτωι If thou doest these things This condition of the first class assumes the reality of the deeds of Jesus, but the use of the condition at all throws doubt on it all as in Matthew 4:3, Matthew 4:6. Manifest thyself First aorist active imperative of πανερωσον σεαυτον phaneroō To the world Not just to “thy disciples,” but to the public at large as at the feast of tabernacles. See John 8:26; John 14:22 for this use of τωι κοσμωι kosmos f0). [source]
Only here and Matthew 4:3. lxx. See on Matthew 6:13. [source]
Kindred with δοκίμιον , proof, and better rendered by Rev., proved. The verb is used in classical Greek of assaying or testing metals, and means, generally, to approve or sanction upon test. It is radically akin to δέχεσθαι , to receive, and hence implies a proof with a view to determine whether a thing be worthy to be received. Compare 1 Corinthians 3:13; Galatians 6:4; 1 John 4:1. It thus differs from πειράζειν , to try or tempt (see on πειρασμοῖς , 1 Peter 1:6), in that that verb indicates simply a putting to proof to discover what good or evil is in a person; and from the fact that such scrutiny so often develops the existence and energy of evil, the word acquired a predominant sense of putting to the proof with the design or hope of breaking down the subject under the proof - in other words, of temptation in the ordinary sense. Hence Satan is called ὁ πειράζων , the tempter, Matthew 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5. See on Matthew 6:13. Archbishop Trench observes that “ δοκιμάζειν could not be used of Satan, since he never proves that he may approve, nor tests that he may accept.” [source]