New Testament in a Year
8 Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the hillside.
2 Look! A leper is approaching. He kneels before him, worshiping. “Sir,” the leper pleads, “if you want to, you can heal me.”
3 Jesus touches the man. “I want to,” he says. “Be healed.” And instantly the leprosy disappears.
4 Then Jesus says to him, “Don’t stop to talk to anyone;[a] go right over to the priest to be examined; and take with you the offering required by Moses’ law for lepers who are healed—a public testimony of your cure.”
5-6 When Jesus arrived in Capernaum, a Roman army captain came and pled with him to come to his home and heal his servant boy who was in bed paralyzed and racked with pain.
7 “Yes,” Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
8-9 Then the officer said, “Sir, I am not worthy to have you in my home; and it isn’t necessary for you to come.[b] If you will only stand here and say, ‘Be healed,’ my servant will get well! I know, because I am under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers, and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave boy, ‘Do this or that,’ and he does it. And I know you have authority to tell his sickness to go—and it will go!”
10 Jesus stood there amazed! Turning to the crowd he said, “I haven’t seen faith like this in all the land of Israel! 11 And I tell you this, that many Gentiles like this Roman officer,[c] shall come from all over the world and sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 12 And many an Israelite—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—shall be cast into outer darkness, into the place of weeping and torment.”
13 Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go on home. What you have believed has happened!” And the boy was healed that same hour!
14 When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was in bed with a high fever. 15 But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her; and she got up and prepared a meal for them![d]
16 That evening several demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus; and when he spoke a single word, all the demons fled; and all the sick were healed. 17 This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, “He took our sicknesses and bore our diseases.”[e]
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.