Matthew 8–9

CHAPTER 8

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

¹Now when ¹Jesus came down from the ²mountain, ³large crowds followed Him.

²And behold, ^aa leper came to Him and ^1bwas bowing down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

³And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his ^aleprosy was cleansed.

⁴And Jesus ^*said to him, “^aSee that you tell no one; but ^bgo, ^cshow yourself to the priest and present the ¹offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

The Centurion’s Faith

⁵And ^awhen ¹Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,

⁶and saying, “¹Lord, my ²servant is ³lying ^aparalyzed at home, fearfully tormented.”

⁷And Jesus ^*said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

⁸But the centurion said, “¹Lord, I am not good enough for You to come under my roof, but just ²say the word, and my ³servant will be healed.

⁹“For I also am a man under ^aauthority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith ¹with anyone in Israel.

¹¹“And I say to you that many ^awill come from east and west, and ¹recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;

¹²but ^athe sons of the kingdom will be cast out into ^bthe outer darkness; in that place ^cthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; ¹it shall be done for you ^aas you have believed.” And the ²servant was healed that very ³moment.

Peter’s Mother-In-Law and Many Others Healed

^14aWhen Jesus came into Peter’s ¹home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.

¹⁵And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and began ¹waiting on Him.

¹⁶Now when evening came, they brought to Him many ^awho were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and ^bhealed all who were ill

¹⁷in order to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “^aHe Himself took our infirmities and ¹carried away our diseases.”

The Cost of Following Jesus

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, ^aHe gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea.

^19aThen a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

²⁰And Jesus ^*said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the ¹air have ²nests, but ^athe Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

²¹And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus ^*said to him, “^aFollow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

^23aAnd when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.

²⁴And behold, there arose ¹a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was sleeping.

²⁵And they came to Him and got Him up, saying, “^aSave us, Lord; we are perishing!”

²⁶And He ^*said to them, “Why are you so cowardly, ^ayou men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and ¹it became perfectly calm.

²⁷And the men marveled, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Saves Men from Demons

^28aAnd when He came to the other side, into the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were ^bdemon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.

²⁹And behold, they cried out, saying, “^1aWhat do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the ²time?”

³⁰Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them.

³¹And the demons began to plead with Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.”

³²And He said to them, “Go!” And coming out, they went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters.

³³Now the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, ¹including what had happened to the ^ademoniacs.

³⁴And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, ^athey pleaded with Him to leave their region.

CHAPTER 9

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹And getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to ^aHis own city.

^2aAnd behold, they brought to Him a ^bparalytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “^cTake courage, ¹son; ^dyour sins are forgiven.”

³And behold, some of the scribes said ¹to themselves, “This man ^ablasphemes.”

⁴And Jesus ^aknowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?

⁵“For which is easier, to say, ‘^aYour sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

⁶“But so that you may know that ^athe Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He ^*said to the ^bparalytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”

⁷And he got up and ¹went home.

⁸But when the crowds saw this, they were afraid, and ^aglorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Matthew and Sinners Called

^9aAnd as Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called ^bMatthew, sitting in the tax office; and He ^*said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

¹⁰¹Then it happened that as ²Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and ³sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.

¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “^aWhy is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not ^athose who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

¹³“But go and learn ^1awhat this means: ‘^bI desire ²compassion, ³and not sacrifice,’ for ^cI did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴Then the disciples of John ^*came to Him, ¹asking, “Why do we and ^athe Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵And Jesus said to them, “Can the ¹attendants of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶“But no one puts ¹a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ²the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.

¹⁷“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Miracles of Healing

^18aWhile He was saying these things to them, behold, ¹a synagogue ²official came and ^3bwas bowing down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.”

¹⁹And Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.

²⁰And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched ^athe ¹fringe of His ²garment;

²¹for she was saying ¹to herself, “If I only ^atouch His garment, I will ²be saved from this.”

²²But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, ^atake courage; ^byour faith has ¹saved you.” ²At once the woman was ³saved from her hemorrhage.

²³And when Jesus came into the ¹official’s house, and saw ^athe flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder,

²⁴He was saying, “Leave; for the girl ^ahas not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him.

²⁵But ^awhen the crowd had been sent out, coming in, He ^btook her by the hand, and the girl ¹got up.

^26aAnd this news spread throughout all that land.

²⁷And as Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, ¹crying out, “Have mercy on us, ^aSon of David!”

²⁸And when He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus ^*said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They ^*said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

²⁹Then He touched their eyes, saying, “¹It shall be done to you ^aaccording to your faith.”

³⁰And their eyes were opened. And Jesus ^asternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows about this!”

³¹But they went out and ^aspread the news about Him throughout all that land.

³²Now as they were going out, behold, ^aa mute, ^bdemon-possessed man ¹was brought to Him.

³³And after the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds marveled, saying, “^aNothing like this has ¹ever been seen in Israel.”

³⁴But the Pharisees were saying, “He ^acasts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

³⁵And Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, ^ateaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

^36aAnd seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, ^bbecause they were ¹distressed and ²downcast like sheep ³without a shepherd.

³⁷Then He ^*said to His disciples, “^aThe harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

³⁸“Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”