Matthew 8:18-34

New King James Version

The Cost of Discipleship^(A)

¹⁸ And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. ^19 (B)Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

²⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

^21 (C)Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, ^(D)let me first go and bury my father.”

²² But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Wind and Wave Obey Jesus^(E)

²³ Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. ^24 (F)And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. ²⁵ Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

²⁶ But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then ^(G)He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ So the men marveled, saying, ^[a]“Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Two Demon-Possessed Men Healed^(H)

^28 (I)When He had come to the other side, to the country of the ^[b]Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

³⁰ Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. ³¹ So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, ^[c]permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”

³² And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.

³³ Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴ And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, ^(J)they begged Him to depart from their region.