Matthew 8

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.