Matthew 8-9

Tree of Life Version

Healing Those who Trust

8 When He came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. ² And a man with tzara’at came to Him and bowed down before Him, saying, “Master, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

³ Yeshua stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be cleansed.” Immediately his tzara’at was cleansed. ⁴ And Yeshua said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go show yourself to the kohen and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”^[a]

⁵ Now when Yeshua came into Capernaum, a centurion came begging for help. ⁶ “Master,” he said, “my servant is lying at home paralyzed, horribly tormented.”

⁷ Yeshua said to him, “I’ll come and heal him.”

⁸ But the centurion said, “Master, I’m not worthy to have You come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ Now when Yeshua heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Amen, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith! ¹¹ Moreover, I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and they will recline at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the sons of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness; in that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ Then Yeshua said to the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And the servant was healed in that same hour.

¹⁴ And when Yeshua came into Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying down, sick with a fever. ¹⁵ Yeshua touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to take care of Him.

¹⁶ When evening came, the people brought to Him many who were afflicted by demons. He forced out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. ¹⁷ So was fulfilled what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,

Following the Call

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

²⁰ Yeshua tells him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

²¹ Then another of the disciples said, “Master, first let me go and bury my father.”

²² But Yeshua tells him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Master of the Storm

²³ As He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ Suddenly a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves. But Yeshua kept on sleeping. ²⁵ So they came and woke Him up, saying, “Master, save us! We’re perishing!”

²⁶ He said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became totally calm.

²⁷ The men were amazed, saying, “What kind of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

Freedom from Demons

²⁸ When He came to the other side, into the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-plagued men coming from the graveyard^[c] met Him. They were so violent that no one could pass by that way. ²⁹ And they screamed, “What’s between You and us,^[d] Ben-Elohim? Have You come here to torment us, before the appointed time?”

³⁰ Now a large herd of pigs was feeding some distance away from them. ³¹ The demons kept begging Him, “If You drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

³² And He told them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the cliff into the sea and drowned. ³³ The herdsmen ran away, went into the town, and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-plagued men. ³⁴ The whole town came out to meet Yeshua. And when they saw him, they begged Him to leave their region.

Authority to Pardon Sins

9 After getting into a boat, Yeshua crossed over and came to His own town. ² Just then, some people brought to Him a paralyzed man lying on a cot. And seeing their faith, Yeshua said to the paralyzed man, “Take courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.”

³ Then some of the Torah scholars said among themselves, “This fellow blasphemes!”

⁴ And knowing their thoughts, Yeshua said, “Why are you entertaining evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins...” Then He tells the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your cot and go home.” ⁷ And he got up and went home. ⁸ When the crowd saw it, they were afraid and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

A Physician for Sinners

⁹ As Yeshua was passing by from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁰ Now it happened that when Yeshua was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Yeshua and His disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why does this Teacher of yours eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹² But when He heard this, Yeshua said, “Those who are healthy have no need for a doctor, but those who are sick do. ¹³ Now go and learn what this means: ‘Mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.’^[e] For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but the sinful.”

Teaching New Ways

¹⁴ Then John’s disciples came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”^[f]

¹⁵ And Yeshua said to them, “The guests of the bridegroom cannot mourn while 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 “And no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment and a worse tear happens. ¹⁷ Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, and the wine spills out and the skins are ruined. But they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Compassion in the Shepherd’s Touch

¹⁸ Just as He was saying these things to them, a synagogue leader came and began to bow before Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come lay Your hand on her and she will live.” ¹⁹ And Yeshua got up and began to follow him, with His disciples.

²⁰ Just then a woman, losing blood for twelve years,^[g] came from behind and touched the tzitzit of His garment. ²¹ For she kept saying to herself, “If only I touch His garment, I will be healed.”

²² But then Yeshua turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” He said, “your faith has made you well.” That very hour the woman was healed.

²³ When Yeshua came into the synagogue leader’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, ²⁴ He said, “Go away, for the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.” And they began jeering at Him. ²⁵ But when the crowd had been cleared out, He went in and took her hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶ And news of this spread all around that region.

²⁷ As Yeshua went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Ben-David, have mercy on us!”

²⁸ When He went into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Yeshua said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Master,” they said to Him.

²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith, let it be done for you.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Yeshua warned them sternly, “See that no one knows.” ³¹ But they went out and spread the news about Him all around that region.

³² As they were going out, a mute man plagued by a demon was brought to Him. ³³ After the demon was driven out, the mute man started speaking. The crowds were astounded, saying, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “By the prince of demons He drives out demons.”

³⁵ Now Yeshua was going around all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. ³⁶ When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ^{[h] 37} Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He may send out workers into His harvest field.”