Matthew 8

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

8 When Jesus^[a] had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; ² and there was a leper^[b] who came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’ ³ He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately his leprosy^[c] was cleansed. ⁴ Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant

⁵ When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him ⁶ and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralysed, in terrible distress.’ ⁷ And he said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.’ ⁸ The centurion answered, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’ ¹⁰ When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly I tell you, in no one^[d] in Israel have I found such faith. ¹¹ I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹² while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹³ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.’ And the servant was healed in that hour.

Jesus Heals Many at Peter’s House

¹⁴ When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; ¹⁵ he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. ¹⁶ That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. ¹⁷ This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. ¹⁹ A scribe then approached and said, ‘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 Another of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ ²² But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’

Jesus Stills the Storm

²³ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ ²⁶ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. ²⁷ They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’

Jesus Heals the Gadarene Demoniacs

²⁸ When he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes,^[e] two demoniacs coming out of the tombs met him. They were so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ Suddenly they shouted, ‘What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’ ³⁰ Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them. ³¹ The demons begged him, ‘If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.’ ³² And he said to them, ‘Go!’ So they came out and entered the swine; and suddenly, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and perished in the water. ³³ The swineherds ran off, and on going into the town, they told the whole story about what had happened to the demoniacs. ³⁴ Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighbourhood.