The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears.
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Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside.
2 Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, "Master, if you want to, you can heal my body."
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Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone.
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Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.
4 Jesus said, "Don't talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done."
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Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”
5 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said,
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When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him,
6 "Master, my servant is sick. He can't walk. He's in terrible pain."
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“Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, "I'll come and heal him."
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Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
8 "Oh, no," said the captain. "I don't want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine.
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But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.
9 I'm a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, 'Go,' and he goes; to another, 'Come,' and he comes; to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
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I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
10 Taken aback, Jesus said, "I've yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works.
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When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!
11 This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions - streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God's kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.
12 Then those who grew up 'in the faith' but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened."
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But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, "Go. What you believed could happen has happened." At that moment his servant became well.
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Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.
14 By this time they were in front of Peter's house. On entering, Jesus found Peter's mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever.
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When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever.
15 He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
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But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.
16 That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill.
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That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.
17 He fulfilled Isaiah's well-known sermon: He took our illnesses, He carried our diseases.
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This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.”
18 When Jesus saw that a curious crowd was growing by the minute, he told his disciples to get him out of there to the other side of the lake.
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When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.
19 As they left, a religion scholar asked if he could go along. "I'll go with you, wherever," he said.
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Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus was curt: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying in the best inns, you know."
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But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”
21 Another follower said, "Master, excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have my father's funeral to take care of."
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Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
22 Jesus refused. "First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life."
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But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead. ”
23 Then he got in the boat, his disciples with him.
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Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples.
24 The next thing they knew, they were in a severe storm. Waves were crashing into the boat - and he was sound asleep!
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Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
25 They roused him, pleading, "Master, save us! We're going down!"
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The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 Jesus reprimanded them. "Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?" Then he stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down: "Silence!" The sea became smooth as glass.
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Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.
27 The men rubbed their eyes, astonished. "What's going on here? Wind and sea come to heel at his command!"
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The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”
28 They landed in the country of the Gadarenes and were met by two madmen, victims of demons, coming out of the cemetery. The men had terrorized the region for so long that no one considered it safe to walk down that stretch of road anymore.
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When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They lived in a cemetery and were so violent that no one could go through that area.
29 Seeing Jesus, the madmen screamed out, "What business do you have giving us a hard time? You're the Son of God! You weren't supposed to show up here yet!"
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They began screaming at him, “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?”
30 Off in the distance a herd of pigs was browsing and rooting.
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There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the distance.
31 The evil spirits begged Jesus, "If you kick us out of these men, let us live in the pigs."
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So the demons begged, “If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”
32 Jesus said, "Go ahead, but get out of here!" Crazed, the pigs stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned.
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“All right, go!” Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
33 Scared to death, the swineherds bolted. They told everyone back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs.
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The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men.
34 Those who heard about it were angry about the drowned pigs. A mob formed and demanded that Jesus get out and not come back.
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Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.