Matthew 8-9

1When [1] Jesus came down from the mountain, [2] large crowds followed Him. 2And a leper came to Him and [1] bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

3Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the [1] offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

5And when [1] Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6and saying, “[1] Lord, my [2] servant is [3] lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.”

7Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

8But the centurion said, “[1] Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just [2] say the word, and my [3] servant will be healed. 9For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘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 [1] with anyone in Israel. 11I say to you that many will come from east and west, and [1] recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; [1] it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the [2] servant was healed that very [3] moment.

14When Jesus came into Peter’s [1] home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and [1] waited on Him.

16When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “[a] He Himself took our infirmities and [1] carried away our diseases.”

18Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

20Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the [1] air have [2] nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

21Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”

22But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

23When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24And behold, there arose [1] a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”

26He said to them, “Why are you [1] afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and [2] it became perfectly calm.

27The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

28When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-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 they cried out, saying, “[1] What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before [2] the time?” 30Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. 31The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.”

32And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters.

33The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, [1] including what had happened to the demoniacs. 34And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.

9:1Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city. 2And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, [1] son; your sins are forgiven.”

3And some of the scribes said [1] to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.”

4And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”

7And he got up and [1] went home. 8But when the crowds saw this, they were [1] awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

9As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

10Then it happened that as [1] Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and [2] sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

12But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13But go and learn [1] what this means: ‘[a] I desire [2] compassion, [3] and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

14Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

15And Jesus said to them, “The [1] attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

16“But no one puts [1] a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for [2] the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

18While He was saying these things to them, [1] a synagogue [2] official came and [3] bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” 19Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.

20And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the [1] fringe of His [2] cloak; 21for she was saying [1] to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will [2] get well.”

22But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has [1] made you well.” [2] At once the woman was [3] made well.

23When Jesus came into the [1] official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. 25But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl [1] got up. 26This news spread throughout all that land.

27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

28When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

29Then He touched their eyes, saying, “[1] It shall be done to you according to your faith.” 30And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” 31But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

32As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man [1] was brought to Him. 33After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has [1] ever been seen in Israel.” 34But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

35Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. 36Seeing the [1] people, He felt compassion for them, because they were [2] distressed and [3] dispirited like sheep [4] without a shepherd. 37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”