Matthew 8

1Great crowds followed Jesus as he came down from the mountain. 2Just then a man with leprosy came up and bowed down before him. “Lord,” he said, “if you want to, you can make me clean.” 3Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. “I do want to,” he said. “Be clean!” At once his leprosy was gone. 4Then Jesus said to him, “Be sure you do not tell anyone. Instead, go and let the priest examine you, and offer the gift Moses commanded, as evidence for them.”

5When Jesus went into Capernaum, a centurion came to him and pleaded with him. 6“Lord,” he said, “my servant is lying at home, paralyzed and in terrible pain.” 7Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8The centurion replied, “Lord, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. Only give the command, and my servant will be well. 9I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and another, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10Jesus was amazed when he heard this. He said to those who were following him, “Truly I tell you, nowhere in Israel have I found faith as great as this. 11I tell you, many will come from the east and the west and will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But those who were born heirs of the kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness outside, where people will weep and grind their teeth.” 13Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go. It will happen for you just as you believed.” And the servant was healed in that same hour.

14Jesus went into Peter’s house and saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and began to wait on him.

16That evening people brought him many who were controlled by demons. He drove out the spirits with a word and healed everyone who was sick. 17This was so that the word spoken through the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled: “He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.”

18When Jesus saw the crowds gathering around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19A scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20Jesus told him, “Foxes have their holes and the birds in the sky their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” 21Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go away and bury my father.” 22But Jesus told him, “Follow me. Leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

23Then Jesus stepped into the boat, and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning a great storm broke over the lake, and waves were sweeping over the boat. But he was asleep. 25They came and woke him. “Lord, save us!” they cried. “We are about to die!” 26He said to them, “Why are you so frightened, you who have so little faith?” Then he got up and spoke sharply to the winds and the waves, and everything became completely calm. 27They were amazed. “What kind of person is this?” they said. “Even the winds and the sea obey him!” 28When Jesus arrived on the other side, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men controlled by demons came out of the tombs to meet him. They were so dangerous that nobody dared to use that road. 29They screamed, “Son of God, what business do you have with us? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” 30Some distance away a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31The demons kept begging him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32“Go!” he told them. The demons came out and entered the pigs, and at once the whole herd stampeded down the slope into the lake and drowned. 33The men looking after the pigs ran off into the town and reported everything, including what had happened to the men with demons. 34At that the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to go away from their district.