And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.
And the Evil One came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, give the word for these stones to become bread.
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou art the son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.
And when the tempter - This onset of Satan was made (speaking after the manner of men) judiciously: he came when Jesus, after having fasted forty days and forty nights, was hungry: now, as hunger naturally diminishes the strength of the body, the mind gets enfeebled, and becomes easily irritated; and if much watching and prayer be not employed, the uneasiness which is occasioned by a lack of food may soon produce impatience, and in this state of mind the tempter has great advantages. The following advice of an Arabian philosopher to his son is worthy of attention. "My son, never go out of the house in the morning, till thou hast eaten something: by so doing, thy mind will be more firm; and, shouldest thou be insulted by any person, thou wilt find thyself more disposed to suffer patiently: for hunger dries up and disorders the brain." Bibliot. Orient. Suppl. p. 449. The state of our bodily health and worldly circumstances may afford our adversary many opportunities of doing us immense mischief. In such cases, the sin to which we are tempted may be justly termed, as in Hebrews 12:1, την ευπεριστατον αμαρτιαν, the well circumstanced sin, because all the circumstances of time, place, and state of body and mind, are favorable to it.
If thou be the Son of God - Or, a son of God, υιος του Θεου. υιος is here, and in Luke 4:3, written without the article; and therefore should not be translated The Son, as if it were ὁ υιος, which is a phrase that is applicable to Christ as the Messiah: but it is certain, whatever Satan might suspect, he did not fully know that the person he tempted was the true Messiah. Perhaps one grand object of his temptation was to find this out.
Command that these stones - The meaning of this temptation is: "Distrust the Divine providence and support, and make use of illicit means to supply thy necessities."
The tempter - The devil, or Satan. See Matthew 4:1.
If thou be the Son of God - If thou art God's own Son, then thou hast power to work a miracle, and here is a suitable opportunity to try thy power, and show that thou art sent from God.
Command that these stones ... - The stones that were lying around him in the wilderness. No temptation could have been more plausible, or more likely to succeed, than this. He had just been declared to be the Son of God Matthew 3:17, and here was an opportunity to show that he was really so. The circumstances were such as to make it appear plausible and proper to work this miracle. "Here you are," was the language of Satan, "hungry, cast out, alone, needy, poor, and yet the Son of God! If you have this power, how easy could you satisfy your wants! How foolish is it, then, for the Son of God, having all power, to be starving in this manner, when by a word he could show his power and relieve his wants, and when in the thing itself there could be nothing wrong!"
4:3 Coming to him - In a visible form; probably in a human shape, as one that desired to inquire farther into the evidences of his being the Messiah.