Matthew 8
8
Chapter 8
A man who had a disease of the skin comes to meet Jesus
1Jesus came down from the hill and a large crowd followed him. 2A man with a bad disease of the skin came to meet him. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and he said, ‘Sir, if you want, you can make me well again. Please do it.’
3Jesus put out his hand towards him and he touched him. ‘I do want to help you. Be clean again,’ Jesus said. Immediately, the man's skin was clean again. 4Jesus said to the man, ‘Listen. You must not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take a gift to him for God. Moses taught the people what gift to take to God after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’
An officer in the army believes that Jesus can help him
5Jesus went into Capernaum. An officer in the Roman army came to meet him. He asked Jesus to help him. #8:5 The officer was a soldier in the army of King Herod Antipas. He had authority over 100 men. The officer was a good man and he took care of his men. The officer was not a Jew, but the Jews said good things about him. 6‘Sir,’ he said, ‘My servant is lying in bed at home. He cannot move his legs and he has a lot of pain.’
7Jesus said to the officer, ‘I will go with you to your house and I will make your servant well again.’
8But the officer answered, ‘Sir, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. Instead, just say that my servant will get better. I know that he will then be well again. 9In my work, someone has authority over me. I also have authority over other soldiers. I say to one soldier, “Go!” and he goes. I say to another one, “Come!” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’
10Jesus heard what the officer said. He was very surprised. He spoke to the crowd that was following him. ‘I tell you this: I have never found anyone like this man in all of Israel. Nobody else believes in me as well as he does. 11I tell you, many people will come from all over the world to take their place in the kingdom of heaven. There they will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 12But other people who think that God's kingdom belongs to them will not be there. God's angels will throw them into the dark places that are far away from God. There those people will weep very much. They will bite their teeth together.’ #8:12 Jesus was talking about many of Israel's people, the Jews. God chose the Israelites to be his special people. But many of them did not obey God, so they could not belong to his kingdom. Biting their teeth together may have shown that they were angry. Or it may have shown they were in much pain.
13Then Jesus said to the officer, ‘Go home. You believed that I would make your servant well again. So I will do it for you.’ At that moment, the servant did become well again.
Jesus makes many people well
14Jesus went into Peter's house. There, he saw the mother of Peter's wife. She was lying in bed. She was ill and her body was very hot. 15Jesus touched her hand and immediately she was well again. So she got up and she prepared food for Jesus.
16That evening, people brought to Jesus many people who were ill. Many of them had bad spirits in them. Jesus spoke a word so that the bad spirits left them. He made everybody who was ill well again. 17Jesus did this so that the words of the prophet Isaiah would become true:
‘He took away everything that makes us weak.
He carried away everything that makes us ill.’
18One day, Jesus saw a large crowd of people around him. So he told his disciples, ‘We should go across the lake to the other side.’ 19A teacher of God's Law came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, I will go with you everywhere that you go.’ 20Jesus replied, ‘Wild animals and birds have their own places to live. But I, the Son of Man, have no place of my own to lie down and rest.’
21Another man who was one of Jesus' disciples said to him, ‘Sir, I want to come with you. But first, let me go home and bury my father. Then I will come with you.’ 22Jesus said to him, ‘No! You must come with me now. Let those people who are dead themselves bury their own dead people.’ #8:22 The man wanted to wait until his father had died. Then he would go with Jesus and be his disciple. But Jesus needed people now to tell the good news about the kingdom of God.
Jesus stops a storm
23Then Jesus got into a boat. His disciples also went with him. 24Immediately a great storm began to blow across the lake. Water began to go into the boat and fill it. Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went to him and they woke him. ‘Master, save us!’ they said. ‘We will die here in the water!’ 26Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You should trust me more than you do!’ Then he stood up and he spoke strongly to the wind and the water. ‘Stop!’ he said. Then the wind and the water became quiet again.
27The disciples were very surprised. They asked each other, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the water obey him!’
Jesus makes two men well again
28Jesus arrived at the other side of Lake Galilee. He came to a place where the Gadarene people lived. #8:28 This place is across the lake from Galilee on the east side of the lake. About 2 kilometres from the shore there is a small village called Khersa. There were some big holes in the rocks there. The people from the village buried dead people in the holes. Some people also lived in the big holes as houses. They were not Jews. Two men who had bad spirits in them came to meet him. These men lived outside, among some graves. They were very strong and dangerous. People were too afraid to walk that way because of them. 29When the two men saw Jesus, they immediately shouted at him, ‘You are the Son of God! What are you doing here? Have you come to punish us before the right time comes?’ #8:29 The bad spirits were speaking to Jesus. They knew who Jesus was. They knew that one day God would judge them.
30A large group of pigs was eating there, not very far away. 31The bad spirits said to Jesus, ‘If you make us leave these men, please send us to those pigs. Let us go into them.’ 32Jesus said to the bad spirits, ‘Go!’ So the bad spirits came out of the men and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water. 33When this happened, the men who took care of the pigs ran away. They went into the town. They told people there everything that had happened to the men with the bad spirits in them. 34So everybody came out of the town to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they said, ‘Please go away. Leave our part of the country.’
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Matthew 8: EASY
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Matthew 8
8
Jesus Heals a Man
(Mk 1.40–45; Lk 5.12–16)
1When Jesus came down from the hill, large crowds followed him. 2Then a man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to him, knelt down before him, and said, “Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean.”#8.2 make me clean: This disease was considered to make a person ritually unclean.
3Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. “I do want to,” he answered. “Be clean!” At once the man was healed of his disease. 4#Lev 14.1–32Then Jesus said to him, “Listen! Don't tell anyone, but go straight to the priest and let him examine you; then in order to prove to everyone that you are cured, offer the sacrifice that Moses ordered.”
Jesus Heals a Roman Officer's Servant
(Lk 7.1–10)
5When Jesus entered Capernaum, a Roman officer met him and begged for help: 6“Sir, my servant is sick in bed at home, unable to move and suffering terribly.”
7 “I will go and make him well,” Jesus said.
8“Oh no, sir,” answered the officer. “I do not deserve to have you come into my house. Just give the order, and my servant will get well. 9I, too, am a man under the authority of superior officers, and I have soldiers under me. I order this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and I order that one, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and I order my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
10When Jesus heard this, he was surprised and said to the people following him, “I tell you, I have never found anyone in Israel with faith like this. 11#Lk 13.29I assure you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of heaven. 12#Mt 22.13; 25.30; Lk 13.28But those who should be in the Kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness, where they will cry and grind their teeth.” 13Then Jesus said to the officer, “Go home, and what you believe will be done for you.”
And the officer's servant was healed that very moment.
Jesus Heals Many People
(Mk 1.29–34; Lk 4.38–41)
14Jesus went to Peter's home, and there he saw Peter's mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand; the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
16When evening came, people brought to Jesus many who had demons in them. Jesus drove out the evil spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17#Is 53.4He did this to make what the prophet Isaiah had said come true, “He himself took our sickness and carried away our diseases.”
The Would-be Followers of Jesus
(Lk 9.57–62)
18When Jesus noticed the crowd round him, he ordered his disciples to go to the other side of the lake. 19A teacher of the Law came to him. “Teacher,” he said, “I am ready to go with you wherever you go.”
20Jesus answered him, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lie down and rest.”
21Another man, who was a disciple, said, “Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.”
22 “Follow me,” Jesus answered, “and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus Calms a Storm
(Mk 4.35–41; Lk 8.22–25)
23Jesus got into a boat, and his disciples went with him. 24Suddenly a fierce storm hit the lake, and the boat was in danger of sinking. But Jesus was asleep. 25The disciples went to him and woke him up. “Save us, Lord!” they said. “We are about to die!”
26 “Why are you so frightened?” Jesus answered. “How little faith you have!” Then he got up and ordered the winds and the waves to stop, and there was a great calm.
27Everyone was amazed. “What kind of man is this?” they said. “Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Jesus Heals Two Men with Demons
(Mk 5.1–20; Lk 8.26–39)
28When Jesus came to the territory of Gadara on the other side of the lake, he was met by two men who came out of the burial caves there. These men had demons in them and were so fierce that no one dared travel on that road. 29At once they screamed, “What do you want with us, you Son of God? Have you come to punish us before the right time?”
30Not far away there was a large herd of pigs feeding. 31So the demons begged Jesus, “If you are going to drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”
32 “Go,” Jesus told them; so they left and went off into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the side of the cliff into the lake and was drowned.
33The men who had been taking care of the pigs ran away and went into the town, where they told the whole story and what had happened to the men with the demons. 34So everyone from the town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their territory.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.