Book of Common Prayer
Paul’s distress over the Galatians
1 Paul, an apostle . . . (my apostleship doesn’t derive from human sources, nor did it come through a human being; it came through Jesus the Messiah, and God the father who raised him from the dead) . . . 2 and the family who are with me; to the churches of Galatia. 3 Grace to you and peace from God our father and Jesus the Messiah, our Lord, 4 who gave himself for our sins, to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of God our father, 5 to whom be glory to the ages of ages. Amen.
6 I’m astonished that you are turning away so quickly from the one who called you by grace, and going after another gospel— 7 not that it is another gospel, it’s just that there are some people stirring up trouble for you and wanting to pervert the gospel of the Messiah. 8 But even if we—or an angel from heaven!—should announce a gospel other than the one we announced to you, let such a person be accursed. 9 I said it before and I now say it again: if anyone offers you a gospel other than the one you received, let that person be accursed.
Paul’s conversion and call
10 Well now . . . does that sound as though I’m trying to make up to people—or to God? Or that I’m trying to curry favor with people? If I were still pleasing people, I wouldn’t be a slave of the Messiah.
11 You see, brothers and sisters, let me make it clear to you: the gospel announced by me is not a mere human invention. 12 I didn’t receive it from human beings, nor was I taught it; it came through an unveiling of Jesus the Messiah.
13 You heard, didn’t you, the way I behaved when I was still within “Judaism.” I persecuted the church of God violently, and ravaged it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age and people; I was extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to unveil his son in me, so that I might announce the good news about him among the nations—immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. No; I went away to Arabia, and afterwards returned to Damascus.
Jairus’s daughter and the woman with chronic bleeding
21 Jesus crossed over once more in the boat to the other side. There a large crowd gathered around him, and he was by the seashore.
22 One of the synagogue presidents, a man named Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus he fell down at his feet.
23 “My daughter’s going to die! My daughter’s going to die!” he pleaded. “Please come—lay your hands on her—rescue her and let her live!”
24 Jesus went off with him. A large crowd followed, and pressed in on him.
25 A woman who had had internal bleeding for twelve years heard about Jesus. 26 (She’d had a rough time at the hands of one doctor after another; she’d spent all she had on treatment, and had got worse rather than better.) 27 She came up in the crowd behind him and touched his clothes. 28 “If I can just touch his clothes,” she said to herself, “I’ll be rescued.” 29 At once her flow of blood dried up. She knew, in her body, that her illness was cured.
30 Jesus knew at once, inside himself, that power had gone out of him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see this crowd crushing you,” said the disciples, “and you say ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 He looked round to see who had done it. 33 The woman came up; she was afraid and trembling, but she knew what had happened to her. She fell down in front of him and told him the whole truth.
34 “My daughter,” Jesus said to her, “your faith has rescued you. Go in peace. Be healed from your illness.”
The raising of Jairus’s daughter
35 As he said this, some people arrived from the synagogue president’s house.
“Your daughter’s dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Jesus overheard the message. “Don’t be afraid!” he said to the synagogue president. “Just believe!”
37 He didn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James and James’s brother John. 38 They arrived at the synagogue president’s house, and saw a commotion, with a lot of weeping and wailing. 39 Jesus went inside.
“Why are you making such a fuss?” he said. “Why all this weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s asleep.” 40 And they laughed at him.
He put them all out. Then he took the child’s father and mother, and his companions, and they went in to where the child was. 41 He took hold of her hand, and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Time to get up, little girl!” 42 At once the girl got up and walked about. (She was twelve years old.) They were astonished out of their wits. 43 Then he commanded them over and over not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.