Being Subject to Authorities

13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.^{(A) 2} Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval,^{(B) 4} for it is God’s agent for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority^[a] does not bear the sword in vain! It is the agent of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.^{(C) 6} For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s agents, busy with this very thing. ⁷ Pay to all what is due them: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

Jesus Stills the Storm

²³ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm.^{(A) 27} They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals Two Men

²⁸ When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes,^[a] two men possessed by demons came out of the tombs and met him. They were so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ Suddenly they shouted, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”^{(B) 30} Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them. ³¹ The demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” ³² And he said to them, “Go!” So they came out and entered the swine, and suddenly, the whole herd stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water. ³³ The swineherds ran off, and, going into the town, they told the whole story about what had happened to the men possessed by demons. ³⁴ Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their region.