Gospel according to Mark 5

¹ They reached the country of the Gerasenes[*a] on the other side of the lake,

² and no sooner had he left the boat than a man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs towards him.

³ The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain;

⁴ because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him.

⁵ All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones.

⁶ Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet

⁷ and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!’

⁸ – For Jesus had been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, unclean spirit’.

⁹ ‘What is your name?’ Jesus asked. ‘My name is legion,’ he answered ‘for there are many of us.’

¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district.

¹¹ Now there was there on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding,

¹² and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us to the pigs, let us go into them’.

¹³ So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned.

¹⁴ The swineherds ran off and told their story in the town and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened.

¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his full senses – the very man who had had the legion in him before – and they were afraid.

¹⁶ And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs.

¹⁷ Then they began to implore Jesus to leave the neighbourhood.

¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him.

¹⁹ Jesus would not let him but said to him, ‘Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you’.

²⁰ So the man went off and proceeded to spread throughout the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

²¹ When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lakeside.

²² Then one of the synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet

²³ and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life.’

²⁴ Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.

²⁵ Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years;

²⁶ after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she spent all she had without being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse.

²⁷ She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his cloak.

²⁸ ‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’

²⁹ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.

³⁰ Immediately aware that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’

³¹ His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, “Who touched me?”‘

³² But he continued to look all round to see who had done it.

³³ Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling[*b] because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth.

³⁴ ‘My daughter,’ he said ‘your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.’

³⁵ While he was still speaking some people arrived from the house of the synagogue official to say, ‘Your daughter is dead: why put the Master to any further trouble?’

³⁶ But Jesus had overheard this remark of theirs and he said to the official, ‘Do not be afraid; only have faith’.

³⁷ And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.

³⁸ So they came to the official’s house and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly.

³⁹ He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.’

⁴⁰ But they laughed at him. So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay.

⁴¹ And taking the child by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha, kum!’ which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up’.

⁴² The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment,

⁴³ and he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.