Matthew 8–9

Jesus Cleanses a Man

⁸When Jesusⁱ had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him, ²and there was a man with a skin disease who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”^{* 3}He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be made clean!” Immediately his skin disease was cleansed. ⁴Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”^*

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant

⁵When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him ⁶and saying, “Lord, my servant^j is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” ⁷And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” ⁸The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only speak the word, and my servant^k will be healed.^{* 9}For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” ¹⁰When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one^l in Israel have I found such faith. ¹¹I tell you, many will come from east and west and will take their places at the banquet with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,^{* 12}while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”^{* 13}And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant^m was healed in that hour.

Jesus Heals Many at Peter’s House

¹⁴When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his 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. ¹⁶That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and cured all who were sick. ¹⁷This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”^*

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw great crowdsⁿ around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.^{* 19}A scribe then approached and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” ²⁰And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ²¹Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” ²²But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”^*

Jesus Stills the Storm

²³And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. ²⁵And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” ²⁶And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm.^{* 27}They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals Two Men

²⁸When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes,^o two men possessed by demons came out of the tombs and met him. They were so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹Suddenly they shouted, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”^{* 30}Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them. ³¹The demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” ³²And he said to them, “Go!” So they came out and entered the swine, and suddenly, the whole herd stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water. ³³The swineherds ran off, and, going into the town, they told the whole story about what had happened to the men possessed by demons. ³⁴Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their region.

⁹And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town.^*

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

²And some people were carrying to him a paralyzed man lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven.”^{* 3}Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” ⁴But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?^{* 5}For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? ⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your bed, and go to your home.” ⁷And he stood up and went to his home. ⁸When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.^*

The Call of Matthew

⁹As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

¹⁰And as he sat at dinner^p in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting^q with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^{* 12}But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”^*

The Question about Fasting

¹⁴Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,^r but your disciples do not fast?”^{* 15}And Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.^{* 16}No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are ruined, but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

¹⁸While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”^{* 19}And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak,^{* 21}for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”^{* 22}Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that moment.^{* 23}When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion,^{* 24}he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.^{* 25}But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶And the report of this spread through all of that district.

Jesus Heals Two Blind Men

²⁷As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”^{* 28}When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you have faith that I can do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith, let it be done to you.” ³⁰And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, “See that no one knows of this.”^{* 31}But they went away and spread the news about him through all of that district.^*

Jesus Heals One Who Was Mute

³²After they had gone away, a demon-possessed man who was mute was brought to him.^{* 33}And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.” ³⁴But the Pharisees were saying, “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.”^*

The Harvest Is Great, the Laborers Few

³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness.^{* 36}When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.^{* 37}Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;^{* 38}therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”