Matthew 8

When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.

1When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

2A man with leprosy came up and knelt down before him. He said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

2And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

Note"Leper" in the Bible covers a range of skin conditions, not only the disease now called leprosy (Hansen's disease). Under the law of Moses a person with such a condition was ritually unclean, had to live apart from the community and call out a warning to anyone approaching, so the man's request to be made "clean" is about both the disease and the exclusion that came with it.

3Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. He said, "I am willing. Be clean." Right away the man's leprosy was gone.

3And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

NoteTouching a person with such a skin disease made the toucher ritually unclean under the law, so the detail that Jesus reached out and touched him would have struck the first hearers as deliberate and startling.

4Then Jesus told him, "See that you don't tell anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Offer the gift that Moses commanded, as proof to them."

4And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

NoteLeviticus 13 and 14 put the priest in charge of certifying that a skin disease had cleared, and required offerings (birds, lambs, flour and oil) before the person could rejoin normal life. There was no other way back into the community, and the certificate was the "proof" or testimony Jesus mentions.

5When Jesus had gone into the town of Capernaum, a Roman army officer came to him and begged him for help.

5And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

NoteCapernaum was a fishing town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee and served as Jesus' base in this region. A centurion was a Roman officer in command of roughly eighty to a hundred men, the backbone of the army's command structure; he would have been a Gentile, not a Jew.

6He said, "Lord, my servant is lying at home, unable to move his body, and he is in terrible pain."

6And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

NoteThe King James "sick of the palsy" means paralyzed; "palsy" is an old form of the word "paralysis." The Greek word for "servant" here can also mean "boy" or "son," so it is not certain whether the officer is speaking of a slave in his household or of his own child.

7Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."

7And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

8The officer answered, "Lord, I am not good enough to have you come into my house. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

8The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

NoteA Jew who entered a Gentile's house was reckoned to have become ritually unclean. The officer, saying he is not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof, may be acknowledging that custom as well as speaking of his own standing.

9I myself am a man under orders, and I have soldiers under me. I tell one man, 'Go,' and he goes. I tell another, 'Come,' and he comes. I tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

9For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

10When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He said to the people following him, "I tell you the truth: I have not found faith this great in anyone in Israel.

10When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Note"Verily I say unto you" translates a phrase that begins with the Hebrew word amen, normally said at the end of someone else's prayer to agree with it. Putting it at the front of one's own statement was unusual and worked as a strong guarantee: "this is certain."

11And I tell you that many people will come from the east and the west and will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

11And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

NoteAbraham, Isaac and Jacob are the three founding ancestors of Israel. To "sit down" with them is a picture of reclining on couches at a banquet, the ordinary posture for a formal meal, so the image is of sharing a feast with them.

12But the people who belong to the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. There they will cry and grind their teeth."

12But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Note"The children of the kingdom" uses a Hebrew turn of phrase in which "sons of" something means those who belong to it or are marked by it; here, those who would be assumed to have a place in the kingdom by birth. "Gnashing of teeth" means grinding the teeth together, a gesture of rage or of anguish.

13Then Jesus said to the officer, "Go. Let it happen for you just as you have believed." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

13And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

14When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed, sick with a fever.

14And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

15He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and began to serve them.

15And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

NoteThe King James "ministered unto them" does not mean anything religious here. The word means waiting on people at table, that is, she got up and served the meal.

16That evening people brought him many who had demons in them. He drove out the spirits with a word, and he healed everyone who was sick.

16When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

NoteThe King James uses "devils" where the Greek has a plural word for lesser spirits, demons, which is a different word from the one used for the devil himself. The later verses of this chapter use the same term.

17This happened so that what the prophet Isaiah said would come true: "He took our weaknesses on himself and carried our diseases."

17That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Note"Esaias" is the Greek spelling of Isaiah. The quotation is from Isaiah 53:4.

18When Jesus saw the large crowds around him, he gave the order to cross to the other side of the lake.

18Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

Note"The other side" means the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, a freshwater lake about thirteen miles long. The eastern side was largely Gentile territory, which matters for what happens in verse 28.

19A teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

19And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

NoteA scribe was a trained expert in the law of Moses, a copyist and teacher of the scriptures rather than merely a clerk. The King James "Master" here means teacher, not owner.

20Jesus said to him, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

20And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Note"Son of man" is a Hebrew and Aramaic idiom that plainly means "a human being," so the sentence can read simply as "a man has nowhere to lay his head." It is also the title of a figure in Daniel 7:13 who is given lasting authority, and Jesus uses it of himself throughout this Gospel; the phrase carries both senses and the Gospel does not pin it down.

21Another of his followers said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

21And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

NoteThe King James "suffer me" means "allow me." Burying a parent was among the most binding of family duties, taking priority over most other obligations. The request is ambiguous in the Greek: the father may be lying dead already, or the man may be asking to stay home until his father dies at some future point, perhaps years away.

22But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

22But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

23Jesus got into a boat, and his followers went with him.

23And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

NoteThe King James "ship" means a boat; the vessels on this lake were wooden fishing boats around twenty-five feet long, worked by a handful of men.

24Then a fierce storm came up on the lake, so that the waves were washing over the boat. But Jesus was asleep.

24And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

NoteThe Sea of Galilee sits in a deep basin about seven hundred feet below sea level, ringed by hills, and cold air funneling down the slopes can raise violent squalls with little warning.

25His followers came and woke him up. They said, "Lord, save us! We are about to die!"

25And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

26He said to them, "Why are you afraid? You have so little faith." Then he got up and ordered the winds and the sea to stop, and everything became very calm.

26And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

NoteThe Greek word behind "rebuked" is the same one used elsewhere in this Gospel for silencing a demon; it is the language of issuing a sharp command to something, not of scolding.

27The men were amazed. They said, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!"

27But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

28When he reached the other side, in the region of the Gergesenes, two men with demons in them met him. They came out of the burial caves, and they were so wild that no one could go that way.

28And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

NoteAncient copies of Matthew disagree about this place name, reading Gergesenes, Gadarenes or Gerasenes, all referring to the Gentile territory on the eastern shore. Tombs there were caves cut into rock hillsides, dry and roomy enough to shelter in, and contact with the dead made a person ritually unclean, so the men were doubly cut off from ordinary life.

29They shouted, "What do you want with us, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the set time?"

29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Note"What have we to do with thee" translates a set Hebrew phrase, literally "what to us and to you," used to push someone away: it means roughly "what business do you have with us, leave us alone." "Before the time" refers to an appointed or fixed moment, not simply an early arrival.

30Some distance away from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding.

30And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

NotePigs were unclean animals under the law of Moses and Jews did not keep them, so a herd of this size is a marker that the district was Gentile country.

31The demons begged him, "If you drive us out, let us go into the herd of pigs."

31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

32He said to them, "Go." So they came out of the men and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned in the water.

32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

33The men who were taking care of the pigs ran away. They went into the town and told everything, including what had happened to the men who had the demons.

33And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

34Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their area.

34And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

NoteThe King James "coasts" has nothing to do with a shoreline. In 1611 the word meant borders or the territory inside them, so the request is that Jesus leave their district.