The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ And^(A) he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God,^(B) or what parable^(C) can we use to describe it? ³¹ It’s like a mustard seed^(D) that, when sown upon the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds on the ground. ³² And when sown,^(E) it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants,^(F) and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky^(G) can nest in its shade.”

Using Parables

³³ He was speaking the word^(H) to them with many parables^(I) like these, as they were able to understand.^{(J) 34} He did not speak to them without a parable. Privately, however, he explained everything to his own disciples.^(K)

Wind and Waves Obey Jesus

³⁵ On^(L) that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” ³⁶ So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ A great windstorm^(M) arose, and the waves^(N) were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ He was in the stern, sleeping^(O) on the cushion. So they woke him up^(P) and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” ^(Q)

³⁹ He got up, rebuked^(R) the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence!^(S) Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid?^(T) Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹ And they were terrified^[a](U) and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey^(V) him!” ^(W)

Demons Driven Out by Jesus

5 They^(A) came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.^{[a] 2} As soon as he got out of the boat, a man with an unclean^(B) spirit^(C) came out of the tombs^(D) and met him. ³ He lived in the tombs,^(E) and no one was able to restrain him anymore—not even with a chain^(F)— ⁴ because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had torn the chains apart and smashed^(G) the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue^(H) him. ⁵ Night^(I) and day among the tombs^(J) and on the mountains,^(K) he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. ⁷ And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son^(L) of the Most High God?^(M) I beg you before God, don’t torment^(N) me!” ⁸ For he had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean^(O) spirit!”^(P)

⁹ “What is your name?” he asked him.

“My name is Legion,”^(Q) he answered him, “because we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region.

¹¹ A large herd of pigs^(R) was there, feeding^(S) on the hillside. ¹² The demons^[b] begged him, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.” ¹³ So he gave them permission, and the unclean^(T) spirits^(U) came out and entered the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there.

¹⁴ The men who tended them ran off^(V) and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed,^(W)(X) sitting there, dressed and in his right mind;^(Y) and they were afraid.^{(Z) 16} Those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed^(AA) man and told about the pigs. ¹⁷ Then they began to beg him to leave their region.

¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him earnestly that he might remain with him. ¹⁹ Jesus did not let him but told him, “Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord^(AB) has done^(AC) for you and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So he went out and began to proclaim^(AD) in the Decapolis^(AE) how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.^(AF)