Passage

Matthew 4.4

Book: Matthew · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. 3. And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."

"4. But 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."

"5. Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6. and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Matthew 4:2-6, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"2. When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 3. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”"

"4. But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”"

"5. Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6. and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”" (Matthew 4:2-6, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."

"4. But 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."

"5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6. And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Matthew 4:2-6, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"2. and having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he did hunger. 3. And the Tempter having come to him said, 'If Son thou art of God, speak that these stones may become loaves.'"

"4. But he answering said, 'It hath been written, Not upon bread alone doth man live, but upon every word coming forth from the mouth of God.'"

"5. Then doth the Devil take him to the [holy] city, and doth set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6. and saith to him, 'If Son thou art of God, cast thyself down, for it hath been written, that, His messengers He shall charge concerning thee, and on hands they shall bear thee up, that thou mayest not dash on a stone thy foot.'" (Matthew 4:2-6, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

OT vs NT God Objection Defeater

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.