Beginning

We should not speak against other people

7 Jesus then said, ‘Do not say to anyone, “You are a bad person.” If you do that, God will say to you, “You are a bad person.” ² God will think about you in the same way that you think about other people. He will use the same rules for you as you use for other people.

³ Perhaps you want to tell your friend about his little mistake. If you want to do that, first remember your own bigger mistakes. ⁴ You are like a person who has a big piece of wood in his eye. But then he says to his friend, “Let me take that little piece of dirt out of your eye for you.” ⁵ Do not be like that person. You think that you are better than your friend. But you are not. First, you must take the big piece of wood out of your own eye. After that, your eyes will see clearly. Then you can take the small piece of dirt out of your friend's eye.^[a]

⁶ Do not give special things that are for God to dogs. The dogs will turn round and attack you. Do not throw valuable things to pigs. The pigs will only stand on them and bury them in the dirt.’^[b]

Jesus teaches his disciples more about God

⁷ Jesus said, ‘Go on asking God for what you need. Then God will give it to you. Go on looking for what you need. Then you will find it. Go on knocking at the door, and God will open it for you. ⁸ Everyone who asks for something will receive it. Everyone who looks for something will find it. God will open the door for everyone who knocks on it.

⁹ Some of you are fathers. If your son asks you for some bread, you would not give him a stone. ¹⁰ If he asks you for a fish, you would not give him a snake. ¹¹ You may be bad, but even you know how to give good things to your children. Your Father in heaven knows much better than you do how to give good things to his children. He will give good things to everyone who asks him.^{[c] 12} So do the good things for other people that you would want them to do for you. That is true in everything you do. That is what God's Law and the messages of God's prophets teach us.’

Jesus teaches people how to get true life

¹³ ‘Go in through the narrow gate to get true life with God. There is a wide gate that is easy to go through. The wide path is easy to travel on. Many people find that wide gate, but it is the way to hell. ¹⁴ It is difficult to go through the small gate. And it is difficult to walk on the narrow road. But when you do go that way, you will get true life. Not many people find that narrow gate.’^[d]

Jesus tells a story about a tree and its fruit

¹⁵ ‘Some people say that they are prophets from God. But their words are false. They seem to be like sheep that are not dangerous. But they are really like hungry wild dogs. What they teach will hurt you.

¹⁶ You will know these people by the way that they live. The things that they do are like their fruit. Grapes do not grow on thorn bushes. Figs do not grow on weeds.^{[e] 17} Good fruit grows on a tree that is good. Bad fruit grows on a tree that is not good. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot make bad fruit. A bad tree cannot make good fruit. ¹⁹ A farmer will cut down any tree that does not make good fruit. He will burn it on a fire. ²⁰ In the same way, look at the way people live. Then you will know what they are really like.

²¹ Some people say to me, “Master, Master!” But not all of them will come into the kingdom of heaven. Only the people who obey God, my Father in heaven, will come in. They do what he wants them to do. ²² On the day when God judges people, many of them will say, “Master, Master! We used your authority and we spoke a message from you. We used your authority and we sent bad spirits out of people. We used your authority to do many powerful things.” ²³ But I will say to these people, “I never knew you. You do not obey God. You are bad. So go away from me.” ’

Jesus tells a story about two men who each built a house

²⁴ Jesus then said, ‘Some people listen to my message and they obey it. Those people are like a wise man who built his house on rock. ²⁵ Then a storm came with a lot of rain and wind. The rivers rose up high. Strong winds blew hard against that house. But the house did not fall down because the man had built it on rock. ²⁶ Other people listen to my message but they do not obey it. Those people are like a fool who built his house on sand. ²⁷ Then a storm came with a lot of rain and wind. The rivers rose up high. Strong winds blew hard against the house. That house fell down. The storm destroyed it completely.’^[f]

²⁸ Jesus finished speaking. The crowds of people were very surprised at the things that he taught them. ²⁹ When Jesus taught them, he showed that he had authority. That was not like the way that the teachers of God's Law taught people.

A man who had a disease of the skin comes to meet Jesus

8 Jesus came down from the hill and a large crowd followed him. ² A man with a bad disease of the skin came to meet him. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and he said, ‘Sir, if you want, you can make me well again. Please do it.’

³ Jesus put out his hand towards him and he touched him. ‘I do want to help you. Be clean again,’ Jesus said. Immediately, the man's skin was clean again. ⁴ Jesus said to the man, ‘Listen. You must not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take a gift to him for God. Moses taught the people what gift to take to God after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’

An officer in the army believes that Jesus can help him

⁵ Jesus went into Capernaum. An officer in the Roman army came to meet him. He asked Jesus to help him.^{[g] 6} ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘My servant is lying in bed at home. He cannot move his legs and he has a lot of pain.’

⁷ Jesus said to the officer, ‘I will go with you to your house and I will make your servant well again.’

⁸ But the officer answered, ‘Sir, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. Instead, just say that my servant will get better. I know that he will then be well again. ⁹ In my work, someone has authority over me. I also have authority over other soldiers. I say to one soldier, “Go!” and he goes. I say to another one, “Come!” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’

¹⁰ Jesus heard what the officer said. He was very surprised. He spoke to the crowd that was following him. ‘I tell you this: I have never found anyone like this man in all of Israel. Nobody else believes in me as well as he does. ¹¹ I tell you, many people will come from all over the world to take their place in the kingdom of heaven. There they will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹² But other people who think that God's kingdom belongs to them will not be there. God's angels will throw them into the dark places that are far away from God. There those people will weep very much. They will bite their teeth together.’^[h]

¹³ Then Jesus said to the officer, ‘Go home. You believed that I would make your servant well again. So I will do it for you.’ At that moment, the servant did become well again.

Jesus makes many people well

¹⁴ Jesus went into Peter's house. There, he saw the mother of Peter's wife. She was lying in bed. She was ill and her body was very hot. ¹⁵ Jesus touched her hand and immediately she was well again. So she got up and she prepared food for Jesus.

¹⁶ That evening, people brought to Jesus many people who were ill. Many of them had bad spirits in them. Jesus spoke a word so that the bad spirits left them. He made everybody who was ill well again. ¹⁷ Jesus did this so that the words of the prophet Isaiah would become true:

¹⁸ One day, Jesus saw a large crowd of people around him. So he told his disciples, ‘We should go across the lake to the other side.’ ¹⁹ A teacher of God's Law came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, I will go with you everywhere that you go.’ ²⁰ Jesus replied, ‘Wild animals and birds have their own places to live. But I, the Son of Man, have no place of my own to lie down and rest.’

²¹ Another man who was one of Jesus' disciples said to him, ‘Sir, I want to come with you. But first, let me go home and bury my father. Then I will come with you.’ ²² Jesus said to him, ‘No! You must come with me now. Let those people who are dead themselves bury their own dead people.’^[i]

Jesus stops a storm

²³ Then Jesus got into a boat. His disciples also went with him. ²⁴ Immediately a great storm began to blow across the lake. Water began to go into the boat and fill it. Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went to him and they woke him. ‘Master, save us!’ they said. ‘We will die here in the water!’ ²⁶ Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You should trust me more than you do!’ Then he stood up and he spoke strongly to the wind and the water. ‘Stop!’ he said. Then the wind and the water became quiet again.

²⁷ The disciples were very surprised. They asked each other, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the water obey him!’

Jesus makes two men well again

²⁸ Jesus arrived at the other side of Lake Galilee. He came to a place where the Gadarene people lived.^[j] Two men who had bad spirits in them came to meet him. These men lived outside, among some graves. They were very strong and dangerous. People were too afraid to walk that way because of them. ²⁹ When the two men saw Jesus, they immediately shouted at him, ‘You are the Son of God! What are you doing here? Have you come to punish us before the right time comes?’^[k]

³⁰ A large group of pigs was eating there, not very far away. ³¹ The bad spirits said to Jesus, ‘If you make us leave these men, please send us to those pigs. Let us go into them.’ ³² Jesus said to the bad spirits, ‘Go!’ So the bad spirits came out of the men and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water. ³³ When this happened, the men who took care of the pigs ran away. They went into the town. They told people there everything that had happened to the men with the bad spirits in them. ³⁴ So everybody came out of the town to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they said, ‘Please go away. Leave our part of the country.’