Matthew 4:2 kjv
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Matthew 4:2 nkjv
And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
Matthew 4:2 niv
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
Matthew 4:2 esv
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
Matthew 4:2 nlt
For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
Matthew 4 2 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Exod 34:28 | Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights... | Moses's fast on Sinai before receiving Law |
| Deut 9:9 | When I went up into the mount to receive the tables of stone... forty days | Moses's fasting while receiving the Law |
| 1 Kgs 19:8 | Elijah arose and ate and drank... went forty days and forty nights to Horeb | Elijah's journey sustained by God's food |
| Deut 8:2-3 | ...forty years in the wilderness, to humble you... by every word | Israel's 40-year testing, reliance on God's word |
| Matt 4:1 | Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted... | The context of Jesus's leading by the Spirit |
| Mk 1:13 | And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan... | Parallel account of the temptation |
| Lk 4:1-2 | Jesus... was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, being tempted | Parallel account emphasizing Spirit's leading |
| Matt 4:3 | The tempter came to Him and said, "If You are the Son of God, command..." | Direct link to the temptation concerning bread |
| Heb 4:15 | For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses | Jesus's humanity and capacity to be tempted |
| Phil 2:7 | ...He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made... | Jesus's humility and taking on human form |
| Jn 4:6 | Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus... | Evidence of Jesus's physical human limits |
| Jn 19:28 | After this, Jesus... said, "I thirst"—to fulfill the Scripture. | Jesus's experience of physical need on the cross |
| Rom 5:19 | For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners... | Christ's obedience as the New Adam |
| Rom 8:3 | For what the law could not do... God did by sending His own Son in likeness | Jesus in the flesh to condemn sin |
| 1 Pet 2:21 | For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us... | Christ as an example of endurance |
| Acts 13:2 | While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting... | Apostolic practice of fasting for ministry |
| Acts 14:23 | When they had appointed elders in every church, having prayed with fasting... | Fasting connected with spiritual appointment |
| Isa 58:6 | Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness... | Prophetic teaching on true spiritual fasting |
| Joel 2:12 | Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting | Fasting as a sign of repentance and seeking God |
| Jer 35:18 | Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Because you have obeyed...' | Obedience to divine commands |
| Zech 7:5-6 | When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy... | The purpose of fasting - for God or for self |
| 2 Cor 11:27 | ...in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. | Paul's experience of physical deprivation |
Matthew 4 verses
Matthew 4 2 Meaning
Matthew 4:2 describes Jesus's profound forty-day and forty-night fast in the wilderness, which culminated in a deep physical hunger. This period served as a vital spiritual preparation and a demonstration of His perfect humanity, setting the stage for the intense temptations that immediately followed from the adversary. It signifies His absolute reliance on God and His identification with humanity's frailties, yet without succumbing to sin.
Matthew 4 2 Context
This verse is positioned at the very beginning of Jesus's public ministry, immediately following His baptism where He was affirmed as God's beloved Son and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. The Spirit then led Him into the wilderness, not as an aimless wandering, but specifically "to be tempted by the devil" (Matt 4:1). The forty-day fast serves as a profound period of spiritual preparation, focus, and divine encounter, echoing significant biblical periods of testing and revelation in the wilderness. It establishes His spiritual authority and dependence on the Father before He engages in direct spiritual warfare and begins His public work.
Matthew 4 2 Word analysis
- And when he had fasted: (καὶ νηστεύσας, kai nēsteusas) The Greek word implies deliberate abstinence from food for religious or spiritual purposes. This was a purposeful act, not an accidental lack of food. It signifies devotion, self-discipline, and intense focus on God, akin to the practices of prophets like Moses and Elijah.
- forty days: (τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας, tessarakonta hēmeras) The number "forty" holds immense biblical significance. It represents a period of trial, testing, judgment, purification, or preparation (e.g., Noah's flood, Israel's wilderness wanderings, Moses on Sinai, Elijah's journey to Horeb). Here, it links Jesus's experience to the history of God's people, symbolizing a new covenant wilderness period where the Messiah perfectly succeeds where Israel often failed.
- and forty nights: (καὶ τεσσαράκοντα νύκτας, kai tessarakonta nyktas) The addition of "and forty nights" emphasizes the completeness and unrelenting nature of the fast. It underscores the continuous devotion and endurance through both day and night, highlighting the severity and intensity of His spiritual discipline and physical deprivation. It demonstrates total immersion in His period of preparation.
- he was afterward an hungred: (ὕστερον ἐπείνασεν, hysterón epeinasen) The word "afterward" indicates the natural, expected physical consequence of such a prolonged fast. "An hungred" (from πεινάω, peinaō) describes a deep, visceral hunger. This emphasizes Jesus's genuine and full humanity. He experienced real physical needs, which made the subsequent temptations regarding food powerfully real, showing He was truly "like us in every respect, yet without sin." (Heb 4:15) This raw hunger perfectly sets the stage for the first temptation: to use divine power to satisfy personal physical need.
Matthew 4 2 Bonus section
The extended nature of Jesus's fast for "forty days and forty nights" suggests a miraculous preservation from death due to complete lack of sustenance, indicating divine enablement and presence throughout. This period reflects Jesus stepping into the shoes of humanity and recapitulating Israel's wilderness experience, succeeding in obedience where Israel faltered. His profound hunger wasn't a failure, but the very condition that made His subsequent victory over temptation so potent and illustrative of relying on God beyond physical needs. It was an act of kenosis, self-emptying, truly taking on the form of a servant.
Matthew 4 2 Commentary
Matthew 4:2 succinctly captures the critical foundational period of Jesus's ministry: a profound forty-day spiritual pilgrimage marked by intense fasting, followed by raw physical hunger. This extreme state of physical vulnerability, born from spiritual discipline, served as the ultimate test and demonstration of His absolute reliance on His Father. Unlike Adam in the garden or Israel in the wilderness, Jesus, the perfect "Second Adam," endured this period of intense testing perfectly, validating His anointing by the Spirit and His worthiness to confront the adversary. His hunger made the upcoming temptations acutely personal, revealing His full humanity alongside His divine resolve. This verse sets the trajectory for His ministry: overcoming temptation not by divine power to circumvent human weakness, but through faithful obedience and perfect trust in God's Word.