Matthew 8–9

Chapter 8

¹And when he had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. ²And behold, a leper came up to him and did him homage, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me. ³And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will; be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴And Jesus says to him, See thou tell no man, but go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses ordained, for a testimony to them.

⁵And when he had entered into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, beseeching him, ⁶and saying, Lord, my servant lies paralytic in the house, suffering grievously. ⁷And Jesus says to him, I will come and heal him. ⁸And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not fit that thou shouldest enter under my roof; but only speak a word, and my servant shall be healed. ⁹For I also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bondman, Do this, and he does it. ¹⁰And when Jesus heard it, he wondered, and said to those who followed, Verily I say unto you, Not even in Israel have I found so great faith. ¹¹But I say unto you, that many shall come from the rising and setting sun, and shall lie down at table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens; ¹²but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. ¹³And Jesus said to the centurion, Go, and as thou hast believed, be it to thee. And his servant was healed in that hour.

¹⁴And when Jesus had come to Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law laid down and in a fever; ¹⁵and he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and served him. ¹⁶And when the evening was come, they brought to him many possessed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were ill; ¹⁷so that that should be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases.

¹⁸And Jesus, seeing great crowds around him, commanded to depart to the other side. ¹⁹And a scribe came up and said to him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou mayest go. ²⁰And Jesus says to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven roosting-places; but the Son of man has not where he may lay his head. ²¹But another of his disciples said to him, Lord, suffer me first to go away and bury my father. ²²But Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

²³And he went on board ship and his disciples followed him; ²⁴and behold, the water became very agitated on the sea, so that the ship was covered by the waves; but he slept. ²⁵And the disciples came and awoke him, saying, Lord save: we perish. ²⁶And he says to them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then, having arisen, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷But the men were astonished, saying, What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?

²⁸And there met him, when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, two possessed by demons, coming out of the tombs, exceeding dangerous, so that no one was able to pass by that way. ²⁹And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Son of God? hast thou come here before the time to torment us? ³⁰Now there was, a great way off from them, a herd of many swine feeding; ³¹and the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine. ³²And he said to them, Go. And they, going out, departed into the herd of swine; and lo, the whole herd of swine rushed down the steep slope into the sea, and died in the waters. ³³But they that fed them fled, and went away into the city and related everything, and what had happened as to those possessed by demons. ³⁴And behold, the whole city went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to go away out of their coasts.

Chapter 9

¹And going on board the ship, he passed over and came to his own city. ²And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, laid upon a bed; and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, Be of good courage, child; thy sins are forgiven. ³And behold, certain of the scribes said to themselves, This man blasphemes. ⁴And Jesus, seeing their thoughts, said, Why do ye think evil things in your hearts? ⁵For which is easier: to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Rise up and walk? ⁶But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, (then he says to the paralytic,) Rise up, take up thy bed and go to thy house. ⁷And he rose up and went to his house. ⁸But the crowds seeing it, were in fear, and glorified God who gave such power to men.

⁹And Jesus, passing on thence, saw a man sitting at the tax-office, called Matthew, and says to him, Follow me. And he rose up and followed him. ¹⁰And it came to pass, as he lay at table in the house, that behold, many tax-gatherers and sinners came and lay at table with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹And the Pharisees seeing it, said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax-gatherers and sinners? ¹²But Jesus hearing it, said, They that are strong have not need of a physician, but those that are ill. ¹³But go and learn what that is—I will have mercy and not sacrifice; for I have not come to call righteous men but sinners.

¹⁴Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees often fast, but thy disciples fast not? ¹⁵And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom will have been taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶But no one puts a patch of new cloth on an old garment, for its filling up takes from the garment and a worse rent takes place. ¹⁷Nor do men put new wine into old skins, otherwise the skins burst and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into new skins, and both are preserved together.

¹⁸As he spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler coming in did homage to him, saying, My daughter has by this died; but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live. ¹⁹And Jesus rose up and followed him, and so did his disciples. ²⁰And behold, a woman, who had had a bloody flux for twelve years, came behind and touched the hem of his garment; ²¹for she said within herself, If I should only touch his garment I shall be healed. ²²But Jesus turning and seeing her, said, Be of good courage, daughter; thy faith has healed thee. And the woman was healed from that hour. ²³And when Jesus was come to the house of the ruler, and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a tumult, ²⁴he said, Withdraw, for the damsel is not dead, but sleeps. And they derided him. ²⁵But when the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up. ²⁶And the fame of it went out into all that land.

²⁷And as Jesus passed on thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Have mercy on us, Son of David. ²⁸And when he was come to the house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus says to them, Do ye believe that I am able to do this? They say to him, Yea, Lord. ²⁹Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. ³⁰And their eyes were opened; and Jesus charged them sharply, saying, See, let no man know it. ³¹But they, when they were gone out, spread his name abroad in all that land. ³²But as these were going out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed by a demon. ³³And the demon having been cast out, the dumb spake. And the crowds were astonished, saying, It has never been seen thus in Israel. ³⁴But the Pharisees said, He casts out the demons through the prince of the demons.

³⁵And Jesus went round all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every bodily weakness. ³⁶But when he saw the crowds he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed, and cast away as sheep not having a shepherd. ³⁷Then saith he to his disciples, The harvest is great and the workmen are few; ³⁸supplicate therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth workmen unto his harvest.