New Testament in a Year
Jesus makes a man well
26 Jesus and his disciples went to the place where the Gerasene people lived. This place is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus got out of the boat there, a man from the town came towards him. Bad spirits were living inside him. He had not worn any clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house. Instead, he lived outside, among some graves. 28 When he saw Jesus, he screamed. Then he went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, you are the Son of the powerful God who is over all! What are you doing here? Please do not hurt me.’ 29 He said that because Jesus had already said to the bad spirit, ‘Come out of this man.’
The bad spirit had often taken hold of the man, so people watched him carefully. They held his feet with metal chains. But when the bad spirit took hold of him, he often broke the chains. The bad spirit then caused him to go into the wilderness.
30 Jesus asked the man, ‘What is your name?’ The man replied, ‘My name is Army.’ He said this because very many bad spirits had gone into him.[a] 31 These bad spirits asked Jesus not to send them away to the world below.[b]
32 There was a large group of pigs there and they were eating on the hill. The bad spirits asked Jesus, ‘Let us go into the pigs.’ Jesus replied, ‘You can go into them.’ 33 So the bad spirits came out of the man and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water.
34 The men who were taking care of the pigs saw this happen. They ran away. They told the people in the town and in the villages what had happened. 35 So the people went out from these places to see what had happened. They came to Jesus. The man that the bad spirits had come out of was sitting there, beside Jesus' feet. Now he was wearing clothes and his mind was well again. When the people saw this, they were afraid. 36 Some people had seen Jesus make the man well. They told the other people how he had done this. 37 Then all the Gerasene people who lived in that place said to Jesus, ‘Please go away and leave us.’ They said this because they were very afraid. So Jesus got back into the boat to leave that place. 38 Then the man that the bad spirits had gone out from said to Jesus, ‘Please let me come with you.’ But Jesus replied, ‘No. 39 You must return to your home. Tell everyone about all that God has done for you.’
So the man went away. He went everywhere in the town and told all the people, ‘Jesus has done very good things for me.’
Jesus makes a young girl well
40 When Jesus returned to the other side of the lake, the crowd was very happy to see him. They were all waiting for him to come back. 41 Then a man called Jairus came to see him. He was a leader at the Jewish meeting place. He went down on his knees at the feet of Jesus and said, ‘Please come to my house. 42 I have one daughter. She is 12 years old and she is very ill. She will die very soon.’
So Jesus went along. A crowd of people went with him. They were pushing against him. 43 There was a sick woman in the crowd who had lost blood for 12 years. She had paid all her money to doctors and now she had no money. But nobody could help her to become well again. 44 She came in the crowd behind Jesus and she touched the edge of his coat. Immediately she stopped bleeding. 45 Jesus asked, ‘Who touched me?’
Everyone round him said, ‘It was not me. I did not touch you.’ Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, there is a big crowd round you. Many people are pushing against you.’
46 Jesus said, ‘Someone did touch me. I know that something powerful went out from me.’ 47 The woman knew that she could not hide herself. So she was very afraid. She came to Jesus and she went down on the ground in front of him. She spoke so that all the people could hear her. She said, ‘I wanted to be well again, so I touched him. When I did that, I became well immediately.’ 48 Jesus said to her, ‘Young woman, you are well again because you believed in me. Go now and have peace in your mind.’[c]
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone arrived from Jairus' house. ‘Your daughter is dead,’ he told Jairus. ‘Do not ask the teacher to come now.’
50 Jesus heard what the man said. So he said to Jairus, ‘Do not be afraid. Just believe in me. Then she will become well again.’
51 When they arrived at the house, Jesus would not let everyone go in with him. He took only Peter, John and James. He also let the mother and father of the girl go into the house. 52 All the people there were crying loudly because they were very sad. ‘Do not weep,’ Jesus told them. ‘The child is not dead. She is only asleep.’
53 But the people knew that she had died. So they laughed at him. 54 But Jesus went and held the child's hand. He said to her, ‘My child, get up.’ 55 Then she became alive again. Immediately she stood up. Jesus said to her parents, ‘Give her something to eat.’ 56 They were very surprised. Jesus said to them very strongly, ‘You must not tell anyone about what has happened.’
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