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Sorry, Wrong Scripture

Did Jesus Misquote Deut. 6:13 at the Temptation?
James Patrick Holding


Matthew 4:10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"(see Luke 4:8)

The skeptics sometimes accuse Jesus here of adding the phrase "and serve him only" to Deut. 6:13 in this quote. However, this is again a typical rabbinic exegesis: It follows that if you fear God only, then you serve Him only. This was typical hermeneutical practice for the day and can only be called an "error" by anachronizing. (For more information on this topic generally see Glenn Miller's item here. Albright and Mann add in their Matthew commentary [35] that Jesus' quote reflects the LXX version of Deuteronomy, other than the word "only". )


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