Matthew 8-9

Legacy Standard Bible

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

8 Now when ^[a]Jesus came down from the ^[b]mountain, ^[c]large crowds followed Him. ² And behold, ^(A)a leper came to Him and ^[d](B)was bowing down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ³ And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his ^(C)leprosy was cleansed. ⁴ And Jesus *said to him, “^(D)See that you tell no one; but ^(E)go, ^(F)show yourself to the priest and present the ^[e]offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

The Centurion’s Faith

⁵ And ^(G)when ^[f]Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, ⁶ and saying, “^[g]Lord, my ^[h]servant is ^[i]lying ^(H)paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” ⁷ And Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion said, “^[j]Lord, I am not good enough for You to come under my roof, but just ^[k]say the word, and my ^[l]servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under ^(I)authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith ^[m]with anyone in Israel. ¹¹ And I say to you that many ^(J)will come from east and west, and ^[n]recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹² but ^(K)the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into ^(L)the outer darkness; in that place ^(M)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³ And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; ^[o]it shall be done for you ^(N)as you have believed.” And the ^[p]servant was healed that very ^[q]moment.

Peter’s Mother-in-Law and Many Others Healed

^14 (O)When Jesus came into Peter’s ^[r]home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. ¹⁵ And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and began ^[s]waiting on Him. ¹⁶ Now when evening came, they brought to Him many ^(P)who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and ^(Q)healed all who were ill ¹⁷ in order to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “^(R)He Himself took our infirmities and ^[t]carried away our diseases.”

The Cost of Following Jesus

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, ^(S)He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. ^19 (T)Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰ And Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the ^[u]air have ^[v]nests, but ^(U)the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ²¹ And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ²² But Jesus *said to him, “^(V)Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

^23 (W)And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And behold, there arose ^[w]a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was sleeping. ²⁵ And they came to Him and got Him up, saying, “^(X)Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” ²⁶ And He *said to them, “Why are you so cowardly, ^(Y)you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and ^[x]it became perfectly calm. ²⁷ And the men marveled, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Saves Men from Demons

^28 (Z)And when He came to the other side, into the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were ^(AA)demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. ²⁹ And behold, they cried out, saying, “^[y](AB)What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the ^[z]time?” ³⁰ Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. ³¹ And the demons began to plead with Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” ³² And He said to them, “Go!” And coming out, they went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. ³³ Now the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, ^[aa]including what had happened to the ^(AC)demoniacs. ³⁴ And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, ^(AD)they pleaded with Him to leave their region.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

9 And getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to ^(AE)His own city.

^2 (AF)And behold, they brought to Him a ^(AG)paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “^(AH)Take courage, ^[ab]son; ^(AI)your sins are forgiven.” ³ And behold, some of the scribes said ^[ac]to themselves, “This man ^(AJ)blasphemes.” ⁴ And Jesus ^(AK)knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘^(AL)Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But so that you may know that ^(AM)the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the ^(AN)paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” ⁷ And he got up and ^[ad]went home. ⁸ But when the crowds saw this, they were afraid, and ^(AO)glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Matthew and Sinners Called

^9 (AP)And as Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called ^(AQ)Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He *said to him, “^(AR)Follow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

^10 [ae]Then it happened that as ^[af]Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and ^[ag]sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “^(AS)Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not ^(AT)those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn ^[ah](AU)what this means: ‘^(AV)I desire ^[ai]compassion, ^[aj]and not sacrifice,’ for ^(AW)I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John *came to Him, ^[ak]asking, “Why do we and ^(AX)the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Can the ^[al]attendants of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ But no one puts ^[am]a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ^[an]the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. ¹⁷ Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Miracles of Healing

^18 (AY)While He was saying these things to them, behold, ^[ao]a synagogue ^[ap]official came and ^[aq](AZ)was bowing down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ And Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.

²⁰ And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched ^(BA)the ^[ar]fringe of His ^[as]garment; ²¹ for she was saying ^[at]to herself, “If I only ^(BB)touch His garment, I will ^[au]be saved from this.” ²² But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, ^(BC)take courage; ^(BD)your faith has ^[av]saved you.” ^[aw]At once the woman was ^[ax]saved from her hemorrhage.

²³ And when Jesus came into the ^[ay]official’s house, and saw ^(BE)the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, ²⁴ He was saying, “Leave; for the girl ^(BF)has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. ²⁵ But ^(BG)when the crowd had been sent out, coming in, He ^(BH)took her by the hand, and the girl ^[az]got up. ^26 (BI)And this news spread throughout all that land.

²⁷ And as Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, ^[ba]crying out, “Have mercy on us, ^(BJ)Son of David!” ²⁸ And when He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “^[bb]It shall be done to you ^(BK)according to your faith.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus ^(BL)sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows about this!” ³¹ But they went out and ^(BM)spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

³² Now as they were going out, behold, ^(BN)a mute, ^(BO)demon-possessed man ^[bc]was brought to Him. ³³ And after the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds marveled, saying, “^(BP)Nothing like this has ^[bd]ever been seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “He ^(BQ)casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

³⁵ And Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, ^(BR)teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

^36 (BS)And seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, ^(BT)because they were ^[be]distressed and ^[bf]downcast like sheep ^[bg]without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then He *said to His disciples, “^(BU)The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”