Matthew 8:18-34

Common English Bible

Discussions about following

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw the crowd, he ordered his disciples to go over to the other side of the lake. ¹⁹ A legal expert came and said to him, “Teacher, I’ll follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Human One^[a] has no place to lay his head.”

²¹ Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

²² But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Calming a storm

²³ When Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ A huge storm arose on the lake so that waves were sloshing over the boat. But Jesus was asleep. ²⁵ They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, rescue us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶ He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you people of weak faith?” Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the lake, and there was a great calm.

²⁷ The people were amazed and said, “What kind of person is this? Even the winds and the lake obey him!”

Jesus frees demon-possessed men

²⁸ When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake in the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed came from among the tombs to meet him. They were so violent that nobody could travel on that road. ²⁹ They cried out, “What are you going to do with us, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the time of judgment?” ³⁰ Far off in the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹ The demons pleaded with him, “If you throw us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

³² Then he said to the demons, “Go away,” and they came out and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned. ³³ Those who tended the pigs ran into the city and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴ Then the whole city came out and met Jesus. When they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.