Matthew 8-9

New American Standard Bible

Jesus Cleanses a Man with Leprosy

8 When ^[a]Jesus came down from the mountain, ^[b]large crowds followed Him. ² And ^(A)a man with ^[c]leprosy came to Him and ^[d](B)bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ^3 [e]Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his ^(C)leprosy was cleansed. ⁴ And Jesus *said to him, “^(D)See that you tell no one; but ^(E)go, ^(F)show yourself to the priest and present the ^[f]offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

The Centurion’s Faith

⁵ And ^(G)when ^[g]Jesus entered Capernaum, a ^[h]centurion came to Him, begging Him, ⁶ and saying, “^[i]Lord, my ^[j]servant is lying ^(H)paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.” ⁷ Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion replied, “^[k]Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just ^[l]say the word, and my ^[m]servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under ^(I)authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith ^[n]with anyone in Israel. ¹¹ And I say to you that many ^(J)will come from east and west, and ^[o]recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹² but ^(K)the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into ^(L)the outer darkness; in that place ^(M)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³ And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; ^[p]it shall be done for you ^(N)as you have believed.” And the ^[q]servant was healed at that very ^[r]moment.

Peter’s Mother-in-law and Many Others Healed

^14 (O)When Jesus came into Peter’s ^[s]home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. ¹⁵ And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and ^[t]waited on Him. ¹⁶ Now when evening came, they brought to Him many ^(P)who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and ^(Q)healed all who were ill. ¹⁷ This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled: “^(R)He Himself took our illnesses and ^[u]carried away our diseases.”

Discipleship Tested

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, ^(S)He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. ^19 (T)Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰ And Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but ^(U)the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ²¹ And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” ²² But Jesus *said to him, “^(V)Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms the Storm

^23 (W)When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And behold, a ^[v]violent storm developed on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. ²⁵ And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “^(X)Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” ²⁶ He *said to them, “Why are you ^[w]afraid, ^(Y)you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and ^[x]it became perfectly calm. ²⁷ The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Sends Demons into Pigs

^28 (Z)And when He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two ^(AA)demon-possessed men confronted Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. ²⁹ And they cried out, saying, “^[y](AB)What business do You have with us, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before ^[z]the time?” ³⁰ Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding at a distance from them. ³¹ And the demons begged Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” ³² And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the pigs; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and ^[aa]drowned in the waters. ³³ And the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, ^[ab]including what had happened to the ^(AC)demon-possessed men. ³⁴ And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, ^(AD)they pleaded with Him to leave their region.

A Paralyzed Man Healed

9 Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee and came to ^(AE)His own city.

^2 (AF)And they brought to Him a ^(AG)paralyzed man lying on a stretcher. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man who was paralyzed, “^(AH)Take courage, ^[ac]son; ^(AI)your sins are forgiven.” ³ And some of the scribes said ^[ad]to themselves, “This man is ^(AJ)blaspheming!” ⁴ And Jesus, ^(AK)perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘^(AL)Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But so that you may know that ^(AM)the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the ^(AN)paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.” ⁷ And he got up and ^[ae]went home. ⁸ But when the crowds saw this, they were ^[af]awestruck, and they ^(AO)glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Matthew Called

^9 (AP)As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called ^(AQ)Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s office; and He *said to him, “^(AR)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁰ Then it happened that as ^[ag]Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and ^[ah]sinners came and began dining with Jesus and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “^(AS)Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not ^(AT)those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Now go and learn ^[ai](AU)what this means: ‘^(AV)I desire ^[aj]compassion, ^[ak]rather than sacrifice,’ for ^(AW)I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Question about Fasting

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John *came to Him, asking, “Why do we and ^(AX)the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “The ^[al]attendants of the groom cannot mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ^[am]the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. ¹⁷ Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Miracles of Healing

^18 (AY)While He was saying these things to them, behold, ^[an]a synagogue ^[ao]official came and ^[ap](AZ)bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will become alive again.” ¹⁹ Jesus got up from the table and began to accompany him, along with His disciples.

²⁰ And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind Him, and touched ^(BA)the ^[aq]border of His ^[ar]cloak; ²¹ for she was ^[as]saying ^[at]to herself, “If I only ^(BB)touch His cloak, I will ^[au]get well.” ²² But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, “Daughter, ^(BC)take courage; ^(BD)your faith has ^[av]made you well.” And ^[aw]at once the woman was ^[ax]made well.

²³ When Jesus came into the ^[ay]official’s house and saw ^(BE)the flute players and the crowd in noisy disorder, ²⁴ He said, “Leave; for the girl ^(BF)has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. ²⁵ But ^(BG)when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and ^(BH)took her by the hand, and the girl ^[az]got up. ²⁶ And ^(BI)this news spread throughout that land.

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two men who were blind followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, ^(BJ)Son of David!” ²⁸ And after He entered the house, the men who were blind came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “^[ba]It shall be done for you ^(BK)according to your faith.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus ^(BL)sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows about this!” ³¹ But they went out and ^(BM)spread the news about Him throughout that land.

³² And as they were going out, behold, ^(BN)a ^(BO)demon-possessed man who was unable to speak ^[bb]was brought to Him. ³³ And after the demon was cast out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “^(BP)Nothing like this has ever ^[bc]been seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “He ^(BQ)casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

³⁵ Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, ^(BR)teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.

^36 (BS)Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, ^(BT)because they were ^[bd]distressed and downcast, like sheep ^[be]without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then He *said to His disciples, “^(BU)The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”