Matthew 8
Lexham English Bible
A Leper Cleansed
8 And when[a] he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper approached and[b] worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you are able to make me clean.” 3 And extending his hand he touched him, saying, “I am willing, be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”
A Centurion’s Slave Healed
5 Now when[c] he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him, appealing to him 6 and saying, “Lord, my slave[d] is lying paralyzed in my[e] house, terribly tormented!” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and[f] heal him.” 8 And the centurion answered and[g] said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come in under my roof. But only say the word and my slave will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority who has soldiers under me, and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another one, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it[h].”
10 Now when[i] Jesus heard this,[j] he was astonished, and said to those who were following him,[k] “Truly I say to you, I have found such great faith with no one in Israel. 11 But I say to you that many will come from east and west and be seated at the banquet[l] with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go, as you have believed it will be done for you.” And the slave[m] was healed at that hour.
Many at Capernaum Are Healed
14 And when[n] Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying down and suffering with a fever. 15 And he touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him.
16 Now when it[o] was evening, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he expelled the spirits with a word. And he healed all those who were sick,[p] 17 in order that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled, who said,
“He himself took away our sicknesses,
and carried away our diseases.”[q]
Would-be Followers
18 Now when[r] Jesus saw many crowds[s] around him, he gave orders to depart to the other side.[t] 19 And a scribe approached and[u] said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go!” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 And another of the disciples[v] said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead!”
Calming of a Storm
23 And as[w] he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being inundated by the waves, but he himself was asleep. 25 And they came and[x] woke him, saying, “Lord, save us![y] We are perishing!” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you fearful, you of little faith?” Then he got up and[z] rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. 27 And the men were astonished, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
Demon-possessed Gadarenes Healed
28 And when[aa] he came to the other side,[ab] to the region of the Gadarenes,[ac] two demon-possessed men coming from among the tombs met him, very violent, so that no one was able to pass by along that road. 29 And behold, they cried out, saying, “What do you have to do with us,[ad] Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”[ae] 30 Now a long way from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 So the demons implored him, saying, “If you are going to expel us, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 And he said to them, “Go!” So they departed and[af] went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed headlong down the steep slope into the sea and drowned in the water. 33 Now the herdsmen fled and went into the town and[ag] reported everything, including the things concerning the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they[ah] saw him, they implored him[ai] that he would depart from their region.
Footnotes
- Matthew 8:1 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“came down”)
- Matthew 8:2 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“approached”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Matthew 8:5 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“entered”)
- Matthew 8:6 Traditionally “servant”; the Greek term here is one often used of a slave who was regarded with some degree of affection, possibly a personal servant (the parallel passage in Luke 7:7 uses the more common term for slave)
- Matthew 8:6 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
- Matthew 8:7 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“come”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Matthew 8:8 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“answered”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Matthew 8:9 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation (see the parallel in Luke 7:8).
- Matthew 8:10 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“heard”) which is understood as temporal
- Matthew 8:10 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Matthew 8:10 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Matthew 8:11 Literally “recline at table”
- Matthew 8:13 Many later manuscripts have “his slave”
- Matthew 8:14 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“came”) which is understood as temporal
- Matthew 8:16 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“was”)
- Matthew 8:16 Literally “those who were having badly”
- Matthew 8:17 A quotation from Isa 53:4
- Matthew 8:18 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“saw”) which is understood as temporal
- Matthew 8:18 Some manuscripts have “a crowd”
- Matthew 8:18 That is, the other side of the Sea of Galilee
- Matthew 8:19 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“approached”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Matthew 8:21 Some manuscripts have “of his disciples”
- Matthew 8:23 Here “as” is supplied as a component of the participle (“got”) which is understood as temporal
- Matthew 8:25 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“came”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Matthew 8:25 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Matthew 8:26 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“got up”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Matthew 8:28 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“came”)
- Matthew 8:28 That is, the other side of the Sea of Galilee
- Matthew 8:28 Many manuscripts read “Gergesenes”; others read “Gerasenes” (see Luke 8:26)
- Matthew 8:29 Literally “what to us and to you”
- Matthew 8:29 That is, before the appointed time of judgment
- Matthew 8:32 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“departed”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Matthew 8:33 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“went”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Matthew 8:34 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“saw”) which is understood as temporal
- Matthew 8:34 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
Matthew 8
The Message
He Carried Our Diseases
8 1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and dropped to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3-4 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
5-6 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8-9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”
13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.
14-15 By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
16-17 That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known revelation:
He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.
Your Business Is Life, Not Death
18-19 When Jesus saw that a curious crowd was growing by the minute, he told his disciples to get him out of there to the other side of the lake. As they left, a religion scholar asked if he could go along. “I’ll go with you, wherever,” he said.
20 Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”
21 Another follower said, “Master, excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have my father’s funeral to take care of.”
22 Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life.”
* * *
23-25 Then he got in the boat, his disciples with him. The next thing they knew, they were in a severe storm. Waves were crashing into the boat—and he was sound asleep! They roused him, pleading, “Master, save us! We’re going down!”
26 Jesus reprimanded them. “Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?” Then he stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down: “Silence!” The sea became smooth as glass.
27 The men rubbed their eyes, astonished. “What’s going on here? Wind and sea stand up and take notice at his command!”
The Madmen and the Pigs
28-31 They landed in the country of the Gadarenes and were met by two madmen, victims of demons, coming out of the cemetery. The men had terrorized the region for so long that no one considered it safe to walk down that stretch of road anymore. Seeing Jesus, the madmen screamed out, “What business do you have giving us a hard time? You’re the Son of God! You weren’t supposed to show up here yet!” Off in the distance a herd of pigs was grazing and rooting. The evil spirits begged Jesus, “If you kick us out of these men, let us live in the pigs.”
32-34 Jesus said, “Go ahead, but get out of here!” Crazed, the pigs stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned. Scared to death, the swineherds bolted. They told everyone back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs. Those who heard about it were angry about the drowned pigs. A mob formed and demanded that Jesus get out and not come back.
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