The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And when he had come down from the mountain, great numbers of people came after him.
1
When Jesus came down from the hill, large crowds followed him.
2 And a leper came and gave him worship, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.
2
Then a man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to him, knelt down before him, and said, "Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean."
3 And he put his hand on him, saying, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away he was made clean.
3
Jesus reached out and touched him. "I do want to," he answered. "Be clean!" At once the man was healed of his disease.
4 And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing about this to anyone; but go and let the priest see you and make the offering which was ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.
4
Then Jesus said to him, "Listen! Don't tell anyone, but go straight to the priest and let him examine you; then in order to prove to everyone that you are cured, offer the sacrifice that Moses ordered."
5 And when Jesus was come into Capernaum, a certain captain came to him with a request,
5
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a Roman officer met him and begged for help:
6 Saying, Lord, my servant is ill in bed at the house, with no power in his body, and in great pain.
6
"Sir, my servant is sick in bed at home, unable to move and suffering terribly."
7 And he said to him, I will come and make him well.
7
"I will go and make him well," Jesus said.
8 And the captain in answer said, Lord, I am not good enough for you to come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be made well.
8
"Oh no, sir," answered the officer. "I do not deserve to have you come into my house. Just give the order, and my servant will get well.
9 Because I myself am a man under authority, having under me fighting men; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.
9
I, too, am a man under the authority of superior officers, and I have soldiers under me. I order this one, "Go!' and he goes; and I order that one, "Come!' and he comes; and I order my slave, "Do this!' and he does it."
10 And when these words came to the ears of Jesus he was surprised, and said to those who came after him, Truly I say to you, I have not seen such great faith, no, not in Israel.
10
When Jesus heard this, he was surprised and said to the people following him, "I tell you, I have never found anyone in Israel with faith like this.
11 And I say to you that numbers will come from the east and the west, and will take their seats with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:
11
I assure you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of heaven.
12 But the sons of the kingdom will be put out into the dark, and there will be weeping and cries of pain.
12
But those who should be in the Kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness, where they will cry and gnash their teeth."
13 And Jesus said to the captain, Go in peace; as your faith is, so let it be done to you. And the servant was made well in that hour.
13
Then Jesus said to the officer, "Go home, and what you believe will be done for you." And the officer's servant was healed that very moment.
14 And when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother in bed, very ill.
14
Jesus went to Peter's home, and there he saw Peter's mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever.
15 And he put his hand on hers and the disease went from her, and she got up and took care of his needs.
15
He touched her hand; the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
16 And in the evening, they took to him a number of people who had evil spirits; and he sent the spirits out of them with a word, and made well all who were ill;
16
When evening came, people brought to Jesus many who had demons in them. Jesus drove out the evil spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.
17 So that the word of Isaiah the prophet might come true: He himself took our pains and our diseases.
17
He did this to make come true what the prophet Isaiah had said, "He himself took our sickness and carried away our diseases."
18 Now when Jesus saw a great mass of people about him, he gave an order to go to the other side.
18
When Jesus noticed the crowd around him, he ordered his disciples to go to the other side of the lake.
19 And there came a scribe and said to him, Master, I will come after you wherever you go.
19
A teacher of the Law came to him. "Teacher," he said, "I am ready to go with you wherever you go."
20 And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have a resting-place; but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.
20
Jesus answered him, "Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest."
21 And another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father.
21
Another man, who was a disciple, said, "Sir, first let me go back and bury my father."
22 But Jesus said to him, Come after me; and let the dead take care of their dead.
22
"Follow me," Jesus answered, "and let the dead bury their own dead."
23 And when he had got into a boat, his disciples went after him.
23
Jesus got into a boat, and his disciples went with him.
24 And there came up a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was sleeping.
24
Suddenly a fierce storm hit the lake, and the boat was in danger of sinking. But Jesus was asleep.
25 And they came to him, and, awaking him, said, Help, Lord; destruction is near.
25
The disciples went to him and woke him up. "Save us, Lord!" they said. "We are about to die!"
26 And he said to them, Why are you full of fear, O you of little faith? Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
26
"Why are you so frightened?" Jesus answered. "What little faith you have!" Then he got up and ordered the winds and the waves to stop, and there was a great calm.
27 And the men were full of wonder, saying, What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea do his orders?
27
Everyone was amazed. "What kind of man is this?" they said. "Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
28 And when he had come to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, there came out to him from the place of the dead, two who had evil spirits, so violent that no man was able to go that way.
28
When Jesus came to the territory of Gadara on the other side of the lake, he was met by two men who came out of the burial caves there. These men had demons in them and were so fierce that no one dared travel on that road.
29 And they gave a loud cry, saying, What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time?
29
At once they screamed, "What do you want with us, you Son of God? Have you come to punish us before the right time?"
30 Now there was, some distance away, a great herd of pigs taking their food.
30
Not far away there was a large herd of pigs feeding.
31 And the evil spirits made strong prayers to him, saying, If you send us out, let us go into the herd of pigs.
31
So the demons begged Jesus, "If you are going to drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs."
32 And he said to them, Go. And they came out, and went into the pigs; and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the sea and came to their end in the water.
32
"Go," Jesus told them; so they left and went off into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the side of the cliff into the lake and was drowned.
33 And their keepers went in flight to the town and gave an account of everything, and of the men who had the evil spirits.
33
The men who had been taking care of the pigs ran away and went into the town, where they told the whole story and what had happened to the men with the demons.
34 And all the town came out to Jesus; and seeing him they made request that he would go away from their part of the country.
34
So everyone from the town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their territory.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.