Matthew 8:18-27

New Testament for Everyone

¹⁸ When Jesus saw the crowd all around him, he told them to go across to the other side of the lake. ¹⁹ A scribe came up and spoke to him.

“Teacher,” he said, “I will follow you wherever you go!”

²⁰ “Foxes have their dens,” replied Jesus, “and the birds in the sky have their nests. But the son of man has nowhere he can lay his head.”

²¹ “Master,” said another of his disciples, “let me first go and see to my father’s funeral.”

²² “Follow me!” replied Jesus. “And leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

The calming of the storm

²³ So Jesus got into the boat, and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ All of a sudden a great storm blew up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves. Jesus, however, was asleep. ²⁵ They came and woke him up.

“Help! Master! Rescue us!” they shouted. “We’re done for!”

²⁶ “Why are you so scared, you little-faith lot?” he replied.

Then he got up and told the wind and the sea to behave themselves, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ They were all astonished.

“What sort of man is this,” they said, “that the winds and the sea do what he says?”