Twenty - Matthew - 8

8:1  When Jesus had come down from the hill, great crowds followed him.

8:2  And he saw a leper who came up, and bowed to the ground before him, and said. "Master, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean."

8:3  Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying as he did so. "I am willing; become clean." Instantly he was made clean from his leprosy;

8:4  And then Jesus said to him. "Be careful not to say a word to any one, but go and show yourself to the Priest, and offer the gift directed by Moses, as evidence of your cure."

8:5  After Jesus had entered Capernaum, a Captain in the Roman army came up to him, entreating his help.

8:6  "Sir," he said, "my manservant is lying ill at my house with a stroke of paralysis, and is suffering terribly."

8:7  "I will come and cure him," answered Jesus.

8:8  "Sir," the Captain went on, "I am unworthy to receive you under my roof; but only speak, and my manservant will be cured.

8:9  For I myself am a man under the orders of others, with soldiers under me; and, if I say to one of them 'Go,' he goes, and to another 'Come,' he comes, and to my slave 'Do this,' he does it."

8:10  Jesus was surprised to hear this, and said to those who were following him. "Never I tell you, in any Israelite have I met with such faith as this!

8:11  Yes, and many will come in from East and West and take their places beside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven;

8:12  While the heirs to the Kingdom will be 'banished into the darkness' outside; there, there will be weeping and grinding of teeth."

8:13  Then Jesus said to the Captain. "Go now, and it shall be according to your faith." And the man was cured that very hour.

8:14  When Jesus went into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in- law prostrated with fever.

8:15  On his taking her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and began to wait upon him.

8:16  In the evening the people brought to Jesus many who were possessed by demons; and he drove out the spirits with a word, And cured all who were ill,

8:17  In fulfilment of these words in the Prophet Isaiah--'He took our infirmities on himself, and bore the burden of our diseases.'

8:18  Seeing a crowd round him, Jesus gave orders to go across.

8:19  And a Teacher of the Law came up to him, and said. "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

8:20  "Foxes have holes," answered Jesus, "and wild birds their roosting- places, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

8:21  "Master," said another, who was a disciple, "let me first go and bury my father."

8:22  But Jesus answered. "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead."

8:23  Then he got into the boat, followed by his disciples.

8:24  Suddenly so great a storm came on upon the Sea, that the waves broke right over the boat. But Jesus was asleep;

8:25  And the disciples came and roused him. "Master," they cried, "save us; we are lost!"

8:26  "Why are you so timid?" he said. "O men of little faith!" Then Jesus rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and a great calm followed.

8:27  The men were amazed, and exclaimed. "What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!"

8:28  And on getting to the other side--the country of the Gadarenes-- Jesus met two men who were possessed by demons, coming out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one was able to pass that way.

8:29  Suddenly they shrieked out. "What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before our time?"

8:30  A long way off, there was a drove of many pigs, feeding;

8:31  And the foul spirits began begging Jesus. "If you drive us out, send us into the drove of pigs."

8:32  "Go," he said. The spirits came out, and entered the pigs; and the whole drove rushed down the steep slope into the Sea, and died in the water.

8:33  At this the men who tended them ran away and went to the town, carrying the news of all that had occurred, and of what had happened to the possessed men.

8:34  At the news the whole town went out to meet Jesus, and, when they saw him, they entreated him to go away from their neighborhood.