The parable of the sower

8 Soon afterwards, Jesus went about in person, with the Twelve, through the towns and villages, announcing and proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. ² They were accompanied by various women who had been healed from evil spirits and diseases: Mary who was called “Magdalene,” from whom seven demons had gone out, ³ Joanna the wife of Chouza (Herod’s steward), and Susanna, and many others. They looked after the needs of Jesus and his companions out of their own pockets.

⁴ A large crowd came together, and people came to him from town after town. He spoke to them in parables: ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some fell by the road, and was trodden on, and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶ Other seed fell on stony ground, and when it came up it withered, because it didn’t have any moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell in among thorns, and when the thorns grew up they choked it. ⁸ Other seed again fell into good soil, and came up, and gave a yield of a hundredfold.”

As he said this, he called out: “If you’ve got ears to hear, then hear!”

⁹ His disciples asked him what this parable was about.

¹⁰ “You are being let in on the secrets of God’s kingdom,” he said, “but to the rest it happens in parables, so that ‘they may see but not perceive, and hear but not understand.’

¹¹ “This is the parable: the seed is the word of God. ¹² Those by the roadside are people who hear, but then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they won’t believe it and be saved. ¹³ Those on the stony ground are those who hear the word and receive it with delight—but they don’t have any root, and so they believe only for a time, and then, when a time of testing comes, they draw back. ¹⁴ The seed that falls in among thorns represents people who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and they don’t bear proper, ripening fruit. ¹⁵ But those in the good soil are the ones who hear the word and hold on to it with an upright and good heart, and who patiently produce fruit.”

Jesus calms the storm

¹⁶ “Nobody lights a lamp,” continued Jesus, “and then hides it under a pot or a bed. They put it on a lampstand, so that people who come in can see the light. ¹⁷ You see, nothing is hidden which won’t become visible. Nothing is concealed that won’t come to light.

¹⁸ “So be careful how you listen. If you’ve got something, more will be given to you; if you haven’t, even what you imagine you have will be taken away from you.”

¹⁹ His mother and brothers came to him, and couldn’t get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰ So they sent a message to him: “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹ “Mother and brothers, indeed?” replied Jesus. “Here are my mother and brothers—people who hear God’s word and do it!”

²² One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and suggested that they cross to the other shore. So they set off. ²³ As they were sailing, he fell asleep. A violent wind swept down on the lake, and the boat began to fill dangerously with water.

²⁴ “Master, Master!” shouted the disciples, coming and waking him up. “Master, we’re lost!”

He got up and scolded the wind and the waves. They stopped, and there was a flat calm.

²⁵ “Where’s your faith?” he asked them.

They were afraid and astonished. “Who is this, then,” they asked one another, “if he can give orders to wind and water, and they do what he says?”

The healing of the demoniac

²⁶ They sailed to the land of the Gerasenes, which is on the other side from Galilee. ²⁷ As he got out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he didn’t live in a house but among the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus he screamed and fell down in front of him.

“You and me, Jesus—you and me!” he yelled at the top of his voice. “What is it with you and me, you son of the Most High God? Don’t torture me—please, please don’t torment me!” ²⁹ Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times over it had seized him, and he was kept under guard with chains and manacles; but he used to break the shackles, and the demon would drive him into the desert.

³⁰ “What’s your name?” Jesus asked him.

“Regiment!” replied the man—for many demons had entered him. ³¹ And they begged him not to order them to be sent into the pit.

³² A sizable herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside, and the demons begged him to allow them to go into them. He gave them permission. ³³ The demons went out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴ The herdsmen saw what had happened. They took to their heels and spread the news in town and country, ³⁵ and people came out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting there at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind. They were afraid. ³⁶ People who had seen how the demoniac had been healed explained it to them. ³⁷ The whole crowd, from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes, asked him to go away from them, because great terror had seized them. So he got into the boat and returned.

³⁸ The man who had been demon-possessed begged Jesus to let him stay with him. But he sent him away. ³⁹ “Go back to your home,” he said, “and tell them what God has done for you.” And he went off round every town, declaring what Jesus had done for him.

Jairus’s daughter and the woman with chronic bleeding

⁴⁰ Jesus returned. A large crowd was waiting for him, and welcomed him back. ⁴¹ A man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell down in front of his feet. He pleaded with him to come to his house, ⁴² because he had an only daughter, twelve years old, who was dying. So they set off, and the crowd pressed close in around him.

⁴³ There was a woman who had had an internal hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent all she had on doctors, but had not been able to find a cure from anyone. ⁴⁴ She came up behind Jesus and touched the hem of his robe. Immediately her flow of blood dried up.

⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” asked Jesus.

Everybody denied it. “Master,” said Peter, “the crowds are crushing you and pressing you!”

⁴⁶ “Somebody touched me,” said Jesus. “Power went out from me, and I knew it.”

⁴⁷ When the woman saw that she couldn’t remain hidden, she came up, trembling, and fell down in front of him. She told him, in front of everyone, why she had touched him, and how she had been healed instantly.

⁴⁸ “Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹ While he was still speaking, someone arrived from the synagogue-ruler’s house. “Your daughter’s dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any longer.”

⁵⁰ “Don’t be afraid,” said Jesus when he heard it. “Just believe, and she will be rescued.”

⁵¹ When they got to the house, he didn’t let anyone come in with them except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. ⁵² Everyone was weeping and wailing for her.

“Don’t cry,” said Jesus. “She isn’t dead; she’s asleep.” ⁵³ They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

⁵⁴ But he took her by the hand. “Get up, child,” he called. ⁵⁵ Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. He told them to give her something to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were astounded, but he told them to tell nobody what had happened.