Matthew 8–9

A MAN CLEANSED

8When he came down from the mountain, large crowds^u followed him. ²Right away^v a man with leprosy came up and knelt before him,^w saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

³Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴Then Jesus told him, “See that you don’t tell anyone;^x but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”^y

A CENTURION’S FAITH

⁵When he entered Capernaum,^z a centurion came to him, pleading with him, ⁶“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.”

⁷He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?”^D

⁸“Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.^{aa 9}For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command.^E I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith. ¹¹I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet^A with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.^{ab 12}But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”^{ac 13}Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed,^ad let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.^B

HEALINGS AT CAPERNAUM

¹⁴Jesus went into Peter’s house^ae and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. ¹⁵So he touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve him. ¹⁶When evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed. He drove out the spirits^af with a word and healed all who were sick,^{ag 17}so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

He himself took our weaknesses

and carried our diseases.^Cah

THE COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS

¹⁸When Jesus saw a large crowd^Da around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea. ¹⁹A scribe approached him and said,^b “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man^c has no place to lay his head.”

²¹“Lord,” another of his disciples said, “first let me go bury my father.”

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

WIND AND WAVES OBEY JESUS

²³As he got into the boat,^d his disciples^e followed him. ²⁴Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. ²⁵So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”

²⁶He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea,^f and there was a great calm.

²⁷The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey^g him!”

DEMONS DRIVEN OUT BY JESUS

²⁸When he had come to the other side,^h to the region of the Gadarenes,^E two demon-possessed men met him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹Suddenly they shouted, “What do you have to do with us,^F Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”ⁱ

³⁰A long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹“If you drive us out,” the demons begged him, “send us into the herd of pigs.”

³²“Go!” he told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water. ³³Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed. ³⁴At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.^j

THE SON OF MAN FORGIVES AND HEALS

9So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town.^{k 2}Just then^l some men^A brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”^m

³At this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “He’s blaspheming!”ⁿ

⁴Perceiving their thoughts,^o Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?^{B 5}For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” ⁷So he got up and went home. ⁸When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck^CD and gave glory^p to God, who had given such authority to men.

THE CALL OF MATTHEW

⁹As Jesus went on from there,^q he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.^r

¹⁰While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples.^{s 11}When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^t

¹²Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick.^{u 13}Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.^Ev For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”^F

A QUESTION ABOUT FASTING

¹⁴Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”^w

¹⁵Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests^G be sad while the groom is with them? The time^H will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. ¹⁷And no one puts^I new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

A GIRL RESTORED AND A WOMAN HEALED

¹⁸As he was telling them these things,^a suddenly one of the leaders came and knelt down before him, saying, “My daughter just died,^J but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”^{b 19}So Jesus and his disciples got up and followed^c him.

²⁰Just then, a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years approached from behind and touched the end of his robe,^{d 21}for she said to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I’ll be made well.”^Ke

²²Jesus turned and saw her. “Have courage, daughter,” he said. “Your faith has saved you.”^Af And the woman was made well from that moment.^B

²³When Jesus came to the leader’s house, he saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.^{g 24}“Leave,” he said, “because the girl is not dead but asleep.”^h And they laughed at him. ²⁵After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.^{i 26}Then news of this spread throughout that whole area.^j

HEALING THE BLIND

²⁷As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”^k

²⁸When he entered the house, the blind men approached him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe^l that I can do this?”

They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”

²⁹Then he touched their eyes, saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” ³⁰And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus warned them sternly, “Be sure that no one finds out.”^{m 31}But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that whole area.

DRIVING OUT A DEMON

³²Just as they were going out, a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to him.^{n 33}When the demon had been driven out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed, saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!”

³⁴But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons.”^o

THE LORD OF THE HARVEST

³⁵Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom,^p and healing every^C disease and every sickness.^{DE 36}When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected,^q like sheep without a shepherd.^{r 37}Then he said to his disciples,^s “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. ³⁸Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”