Matthew 8

¹ When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.

² Then a man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

³ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

⁴ Then Jesus said to him, "See that you do not tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.

⁶ "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly."

⁷ Jesus said to him, "Shall I come and heal him?"

⁸ The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

¹¹ I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

¹⁴ When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.

¹⁵ He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him.

¹⁶ When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."

¹⁸ When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.

¹⁹ Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

²⁰ Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

²¹ Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

²² But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.

²⁴ Suddenly a violent storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are going to drown!"

²⁶ He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

²⁸ When he arrived at the other side, in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

²⁹ "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?"

³⁰ Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.

³¹ The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."

³² He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.

³³ Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town, and reported everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

³⁴ Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.