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For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
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He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach
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In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.
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Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,
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The Parable of the Sower
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.
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But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
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Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
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“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.
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All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.
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It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
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Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
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With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.
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He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
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Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.
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When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.
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This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.
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Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
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He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!”
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The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.”
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Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
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As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.
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So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
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He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”
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So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
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She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
