Open English Translation MAT Chapter 8

8 When Yeshua came down from the hillside, a large crowd followed him, 2 and then a man with leprosy approached him and knelt down in front of him and asked, “Master, if you’re willing, you’re able to get rid of this disease.”

3 “I am willing,” said Yeshua as he stretched out his hand and commanded, “Be clean.” The leprosy disappeared immediately 4 [ref]and Yeshua told him, “Make sure that you don’t tell anyone about this but you do need to go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering required by Moses’ law as a testimony to the authorities.”

5 When Yeshua arrived in Capernaum, a Roman army commander approached him and begged him, 6 saying, “Master, I have a slave who’s paralysed and had to kept in bed because he’s being badly tormented.”

7 “I’ll come and heal him,” Yeshua answered.

8 “But master,” the commander replied, “I’m not worthy that you should come to my house, but just give the command and my slave will be healed, 9 because I’m also a man given a position under authority with soldiers under me, and I tell this one, ‘Come here,’ and he comes, and tell my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.

10 Yeshua was amazed when he heard that and said to his followers around him, “I can assure you that I haven’t discovered faith like this from any Israeli. 11 [ref]I’m telling you that many people from all over the world will come and join Abraham and Isaac and Yacob at the table in the kingdom of the heavens, 12 [ref]but the ones who thought they were the true children will be thrown out into the distant darkness where there’ll be crying and regrets. 13 Then he said to the commander, “Go then and it will happen according to your faith,” and his slave was healed that very moment.

14 When Yeshua came to Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with the fever. 15 Yeshua touched her hand and the fever left her. Then she got up and looked after her guest.

16 In the evening, the people brought many who were possessed by evil spirits and Yeshua drove out the spirits with a command and healed all of them that were sick. 17 This fulfilled what the prophet Isayah had written: ‘He took our sickness and bore our diseases.’[ref]

18 When Yeshua saw the crowd around him, he told his apprentices to take him across to the other side of the lake. 19 One of the teachers of the law came up to Yeshua and told him, “Teacher, I’ll follow you wherever you go.”

20 “Foxes have burrows,” said Yeshua, “and birds have their nests, but humanity’s child doesn’t even have a place to lay his head.”

21 Another one of his followers said to him, “I’ll follow you, Master, but first let me wait until I can bury[fn] my father.”

22 “Follow after me,” Yeshua responded, “and leave the dead to bury the dead by themselves.”

23 Then Yeshua and his apprentices followed him and got into the boat and launched it. 24 Then wow, a huge storm rose up on the lake and the waves started coming into the boat, but Yeshua was asleep. 25 They woke him up and pleaded, “Master, save us, we’re going to drown.”

26 “What are you worried about,”, asked Yeshua, “you who don’t have much faith.” Then he stood up and told the winds and the water to stop, and the lake became very calm.

27 The people were astonished and asked, “What kind of man is this that the winds and the lake just do what he says?”

28 And when Yeshua arrived at the country of the Gadarenes on the other side of the lake, he was met by two very dangerous demon-possessed men who were coming out of the cemetery. Because of them, some people weren’t able to travel on that road. 29 Suddenly the two men yelled out saying, “Son of God, what’s the connection between us and you? Have you come here to cause us pain before the designated time?”

30 Now there was a herd of many pigs grazing not far away from them, 31 and the demons begged Yeshua saying, “If you do drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

32 And he said to them, “Depart!” So they came out and went away into the pigs, and next thing all the herd rushed down the bank into the lake and drowned in the water.

33 Then the men who had been grazing them took off, and when they got to the city they reported everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Soon all the city came out to meet with Yeshua, and when they found him they asked him to leave their region.