Matthew 8

¹When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him.

²Suddenly a leper came [and] knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

³[Jesus] reached out [His] hand [and] touched [the man]. “I am willing, He said. “Be clean! And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

⁴Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.”

⁵When [Jesus] had entered Capernaum, a centurion came [and] pleaded with Him,

⁶“Lord, my servant lies at home, paralyzed [and] in terrible agony.”

⁷“I will go [and] heal him, [Jesus] replied.

⁸The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

⁹For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell [one] to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes. [I tell] my servant to do something, and he does [it].”

¹⁰When Jesus heard [this], He marveled and said to those following [Him], “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel [with] such great faith.

¹¹I say to you that many will come from [the] east and [the] west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

¹²But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, [where] there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! As you have believed, [so] will it be done for you. And his servant was healed at that very hour.

¹⁴When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, He saw [Peter’s] mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever.

¹⁵So He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve Him.

¹⁶When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to [Jesus], and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”

¹⁸[When] Jesus saw [a] large crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side [of the sea].

¹⁹And one of the scribes came to Him [and] said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

²⁰Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air [have] nests, but [the] Son of Man has no [place] to lay [His] head.

²¹Another of His disciples requested, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

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

²³[When] He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.

²⁴Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves. But [Jesus] was sleeping.

²⁵[The disciples] went [and] woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

²⁶“[You] of little faith, [Jesus] replied, “why are you so afraid? Then He got up [and] rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.

²⁷[The] men were amazed [and] asked, “What kind [of man] is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

²⁸When [Jesus] arrived on the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, He was met by two demon-possessed [men] coming from the tombs. [They were] so violent that no one could pass that way.

²⁹“What do You [want] with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before [the] appointed time?”

³⁰In the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding.

³¹So the demons begged [Jesus], “If You drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

³²“Go! He told them. So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the waters.

³³Those tending [the pigs] ran off into the town [and] reported all this, including the [account] of the demon-possessed [men].

³⁴Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged [Him] to leave their region.