⁴⁰ A man with tzara’at comes to Him, begging Him and falling on his knees, saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

⁴¹ Moved with compassion, Yeshua stretched out His hand and touched him. He said, “I am willing. Be cleansed.” ⁴² Immediately, the tzara’at left him, and he was cleansed.

⁴³ Yeshua sent him away at once, sternly warning him. ⁴⁴ He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the kohen.^[a] Then, for your cleansing, offer what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to proclaim and spread the word, so much that Yeshua could no longer enter a town openly but had to stay out in wilderness areas. Still, they kept on coming to Him from everywhere.

Power Over Demons

5 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. ² As soon as Yeshua got out of the boat, a man from the graveyard^[a] with an unclean spirit met Him. ³ He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain. ⁴ For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been ripped apart by him and the shackles broken. No one was strong enough to tame him. ⁵ And through it all, night and day, at the graveyard and in the mountains, he kept screaming and gashing himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Yeshua from a distance, he ran and bowed down before Him. ⁷ Crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What’s between You and me, Yeshua, Ben El Elyon? I’m warning you, in the name of God, do not torment me!”

⁸ For Yeshua had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹ Then Yeshua began questioning him, “What is your name?”

And he answered, “My name is Legion,^[b] for we are many.” ¹⁰ He kept begging Him not to send them out of the country. ¹¹ Now a large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside nearby. ¹² The unclean spirits urged Him, saying, “Send us to the pigs, so we may enter them.” ¹³ So Yeshua gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. And the herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the cliff and were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴ The herdsmen ran away and told the town and countryside, and they came to see what had happened. ¹⁵ Now they came to Yeshua and saw the madman who had had the legion. He was sitting there, dressed in clothes and in his right mind. The people were scared.

¹⁶ Those who had seen it described in detail what had happened to the man plagued by a demon, and they also told about the pigs. ¹⁷ And they began to beg Yeshua to leave their country. ¹⁸ As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been infested with demons kept begging to remain with Him. ¹⁹ Yeshua did not let him, but He told him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much Adonai has done for you, how He showed you mercy.”

²⁰ So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis^[c] how much Yeshua had done for him. And all were amazed.

Power in His Touch

²¹ When Yeshua had crossed over in the boat again to the other side, a big crowd gathered around Him; and He was by the sea. ²² Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, comes. Seeing Him, he falls at His feet. ²³ He begs Him a great deal, saying, “My little daughter is near death! Come and lay hands on her so that she may be healed and live!”

²⁴ So Yeshua went off with him, and a big crowd was following Him and pressing upon Him. ²⁵ And there was a woman with a blood flow for twelve years, ^{[d] 26} who had suffered much under many doctors. She had spent all that she had without benefit; instead, she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Yeshua, she came through the crowd from behind and touched His garment. ²⁸ For she kept saying, “If I touch even His clothes, I shall be healed.”

²⁹ Right away the blood flow stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her disease. ³⁰ At once Yeshua, knowing in Himself that power had gone out from Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

³¹ His disciples responded, “You see the crowd pressing upon You and you say, ‘Who touched Me?’” ³² But He kept looking around to see who had done this.

³³ But the woman, scared and shaking, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in shalom and be healed from your disease.”

³⁵ While Yeshua was still speaking, messengers come from the house of the synagogue leader, saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why do you still trouble the Teacher?”

³⁶ But ignoring what they said, Yeshua tells the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” ³⁷ He did not let anyone follow Him except Peter, Jacob, and John, the brother of Jacob.

³⁸ They come to the house of the synagogue leader. He sees a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹ After entering, He said to them, “Why make such a fuss and weep? The child didn’t die, but is sleeping.”

⁴⁰ They start jeering at Him. But after sending all of them out, He takes the child’s father and mother, and those with Him, and enters where the child was. ⁴¹ Then, taking hold of the child’s hand, He tells her, “Talitha koum,”^[e] which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.” ⁴² Immediately, the girl stood up and began to walk around! (She was twelve years old.) And they were overcome with astonishment. ⁴³ But He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said something to eat should be given to her.

²² And when the days of their purification were fulfilled,^[a] according to the Torah of Moses, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present to Adonai. ²³ As it is written in the Torah of Adonai, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to Adonai.” ^{[b] 24} So they offered a sacrifice according to what was said in the Torah of Adonai: “a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons.”^[c]

Yeshua Heals and News Spreads

¹² Now while Yeshua was in one of the towns, a man covered with tzara’at appeared. And when he saw Yeshua, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Master, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

¹³ Yeshua stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be cleansed!” Immediately, the tzara’at left him. ¹⁴ Yeshua ordered him to tell no one, but commanded him, “Go and show yourself to the kohen.^[a] Then bring an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵ But the news about Yeshua was spreading all the more, and many crowds were coming together to hear and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁶ Yet He would often slip away into the wilderness and pray.

John Seeks Confirmation from Prison

¹⁸ John’s disciples reported to him about all these things. Calling two of his disciples, ¹⁹ John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for another?”

²⁰ When they appeared before Him, the men said, “John the Immerser sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”

²¹ At this very hour He was healing many of diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many who were blind. ²² And answering, He said to them, “Go report to John what you saw and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, those with tzara’at are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them. ^{[a] 23} Blessed is he who is not led to stumble because of Me.”

Who Is Your Master?

6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? ² May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that all of us who were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were immersed into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried together with Him through immersion into death—in order that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have become joined together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be joined together in His resurrection— ⁶ knowing our old man was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be done away with, so we no longer serve sin. ⁷ For he who has died is set free from sin.

⁸ Now if we have died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him. ⁹ We know that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies; death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For the death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ So also continually count yourselves both dead to sin and alive to God in Messiah Yeshua.

¹² Therefore do not let sin rule in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. ¹³ And do not keep yielding your body parts to sin as tools of wickedness; but yield yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your body parts as tools of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching under which you were placed; ¹⁸ and after you were set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

¹⁹ I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you yielded your body parts as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now yield your body parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in holiness. ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. ²¹ So then, what outcome did you have that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now, having been set free from sin and having become enslaved to God, you have your fruit resulting in holiness. And the outcome is eternal life. ²³ For sin’s payment^[a] is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.