Matthew 8
8
Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy
1Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. 2Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
3Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. 4Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy.#8:4 See Lev 14:2-32. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”
The Faith of a Roman Officer
5When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer#8:5 Greek a centurion; similarly in 8:8, 13. came and pleaded with him, 6“Lord, my young servant#8:6 Or child; also in 8:13. lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
7Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
8But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 9I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
10When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! 11And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. 12But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.
Jesus Heals Many People
14When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. 15But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.
16That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick. 17This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said,
“He took our sicknesses
and removed our diseases.”#8:17 Isa 53:4.
The Cost of Following Jesus
18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.
19Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man#8:20 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself. has no place even to lay his head.”
21Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
22But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.#8:22 Greek Let the dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus Calms the Storm
23Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.
27The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”
Jesus Heals Two Demon-Possessed Men
28When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes,#8:28 Other manuscripts read Gerasenes; still others read Gergesenes. Compare Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26. two men who were possessed by demons met him. They came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area.
29They began screaming at him, “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?”
30There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the distance. 31So the demons begged, “If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”
32 “All right, go!” Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
33The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men. 34Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.
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Matthew 8: NLT
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Matthew 8
8
(We have not yet translated 8:1-4. You can read that story in Mark 1:40-44.)
A Roman army boss trusted Jesus properly
5Jesus went to a town called Capernium. There was a Roman army boss there. He was the boss over 100 soldiers. He went to Jesus and strongly asked him for help. 6He said, “Sir, my young work-man is lying in bed at home. He can’t move, and he is hurting a lot.”
7Jesus said, “I will go with you and make him better.”
8But the army boss said to Jesus, “Sir, I’m not good enough for you, so it will not be right for you to go into my house. But you can make him better from right here. You can tell that sickness to stop, and leave my work-man, and then he will get better straight away. 9I know it will happen. You see, I know about bosses. I have a boss over me, and I’m the boss over a lot of soldiers. If I tell a soldier to go somewhere, he goes there. And if I tell one of them to come to me, he comes to me. And if I tell my work-men to do something, they do it. Well, I believe that you are a powerful boss. If you just tell that sickness to go, then my work-man will get better straight away.”
10Jesus heard what that Roman army boss said, and he was very surprised. He said to the people that were following him, “Listen. This man is not one of you Israel mob, but he trusts me more than any of you Israel people.”
11Then Jesus told them about something that will happen one day. He said, “Listen. You know that God picked you Israel mob to be his special people. But one day, a lot of other people will come from everywhere in the world, and they will join God’s family in heaven. God will put on a big dinner there for his family, and these other people will sit down and eat it with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. They are your grand-fathers that lived a long time ago.#Luke 13:29 12But a lot of Israel people will not eat any of it. God will grab them and chuck them out. They will be very upset and angry. They will cry a lot, and they will be so angry that they will bite their teeth together.”#Matthew 22:13; 25:30; Luke 13:28
13Then Jesus said to the army boss, “You can go back home now. You are trusting me to make your work-man better, so I am doing it.” And right then, at that same time, that army boss’s work-man got better.
(We have not yet translated 8:14-17. You can read that story in Mark 1:29-34.)
If we follow Jesus, it might be hard for us
18At another time Jesus saw a big mob of people coming around him, so he told his followers to take him in a boat to the other side of the lake.
19After they got there, a Jewish law teacher went to Jesus and said, “Teacher, I want to be one of your followers. I will go everywhere with you.”
20Jesus said to him, “Wild dogs have places where they can sleep, and wild birds have nests they can sleep in. But I haven’t got a home to lie down and sleep in, even though I’m God’s special man from heaven.”
21There was another man that was already a follower of Jesus. He said to Jesus, “Sir, I will come with you. But my father has died, so let me go home to bury him. After that, I will come with you.”
22Jesus said to him, “No. You come and follow me now. You see, some people are spiritually dead, so they can bury the dead bodies of their own people. But you come and follow me.”
(We have not yet translated 8:23—9:26. You can read those stories in Mark 2:1-22; 4:35-41; 5:1-43.)
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