Gospel according to Matthew 8

¹ After he had come down from the mountain large crowds followed him.

² A leper now came up and bowed low in front of him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’

³ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And his leprosy was cured at once.

⁴ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Mind you do not tell anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering prescribed by Moses, as evidence for them’.

⁵ When he went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded with him.

⁶ ‘Sir,’ he said ‘my servant is lying at home paralysed, and in great pain.’

⁷ ‘I will come myself and cure him’ said Jesus.

⁸ The centurion replied, ‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured.

⁹ For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this.

¹¹ And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven;

¹² but the subjects of the kingdom[*a] will be turned out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.’

¹³ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go back, then; you have believed, so let this be done for you’. And the servant was cured at that moment.

¹⁴ And going into Peter’s house Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with fever.

¹⁵ He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

¹⁶ That evening they brought him many who were possessed by devils. He cast out the spirits with a word and cured all who were sick.

¹⁷ This was to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah: He took our sicknesses away and carried our diseases for us.[*b]

¹⁸ When Jesus saw the great crowds all about him he gave orders to leave for the other side.[*c]

¹⁹ One of the scribes then came up and said to him, ‘Master, I will follow you wherever you go’.

²⁰ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’.

²¹ Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, ‘Sir, let me go and bury my father first’.

²² But Jesus replied, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead’.

²³ Then he got into the boat followed by his disciples.

²⁴ Without warning a storm broke over the lake, so violent that the waves were breaking right over the boat. But he was asleep.

²⁵ So they went to him and woke him saying, ‘Save us, Lord, we are going down!’

²⁶ And he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened, you men of little faith?’ And with that he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and all was calm again.

²⁷ The men were astounded and said, ‘Whatever kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him.’

²⁸ When he reached the country of the Gadarenes on the other side, two demoniacs came towards him out of the tombs – creatures so fierce that no one could pass that way.

²⁹ They stood there shouting, ‘What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the time?'[*d]

³⁰ Now some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding,

³¹ and the devils pleaded with Jesus, ‘If you cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs’.

³² And he said to them, ‘Go then’, and they came out and made for the pigs; and at that the whole herd charged down the cliff into the lake and perished in the water.

³³ The swineherds ran off and made for the town, where they told the whole story, including what had happened to the demoniacs.

³⁴ At this the whole town set out to meet Jesus; and as soon as they saw him they implored him to leave the neighbourhood.