Matthew 8 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Around AD 28, immediately after the Sermon on the Mount; the book written around AD 70 to 85
Location
The hills of Galilee, the town of Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee, and the Gentile country on its eastern shore
Audience
Jewish followers of Jesus, many of them recently pushed out of synagogue life, reading a Gospel steeped in Hebrew scripture
Situation
Having finished teaching, Jesus performs a rapid sequence of healings: a man with a skin disease, a Roman officer's servant healed at a distance, Peter's mother-in-law, and many others. He then stills a storm at sea and frees two violently possessed men in Gentile territory.
Key Background
The skin conditions grouped under the biblical term for leprosy carried ritual exclusion, and only a priest could certify a cure, which is why Jesus sends the healed man to make the offering the law of Moses prescribed. A centurion commanded roughly eighty men and was the backbone of Roman military discipline, so a Jewish crowd would see him as an agent of occupation, and his confidence that a word given at a distance carries authority is framed as an understanding of chains of command. Matthew arranges these episodes in three groups of three, a teaching structure that made material easier to memorise in a world where most people learned by ear.
When he came down from the mountain, huge followed him.
Then a with a came up and in front of him, saying, if you're willing, you can make me
Jesus reached out his hand and saying, "I am willing. Be clean." And his skin disease was healed.
Then Jesus told him, "Make sure you don't tell anyone. But go, to the and offer the gift that Moses commanded — that will be your to everyone."
When Jesus entered a came to him, pleading with him.
"Master," he said, "my is lying at home suffering terribly."
Jesus said to him, "I'll come and him."
The officer replied, "Master, I to have you come under my roof. Just the and my servant will be healed."
"I know this because I'm a man myself, with soldiers me. I tell one, 'Go,' and he goes. I tell another, 'Come,' and he comes. I tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was and said to those following him, "I'm telling you the truth — I haven't found like this in anyone in Israel."
"And I tell you, many will come from east and west and take their places at the with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the of
"But the who were to the will be thrown into the where there will be weeping and of
Then Jesus said to the officer, "Go. What you would happen — it's done." And his servant was healed at that exact moment.
When Jesus came to Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
He her hand and the fever left her. She got up and began him.
When evening came, people brought to him many who were by and he drove out the with a and healed everyone who was sick.
This what was spoken through the prophet "He took on our weaknesses and carried our diseases."
When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other of the lake.
Then a came up and said to him, I'll follow you wherever you go."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the of has no place to lay his head."
Another one of his said to him, "Master, let me go and my first."
But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and the their own
Then he got into the and his followers went with him.
Suddenly a hit the lake — the waves were crashing over the boat. But Jesus was
His followers came and woke him up, saying, "Master, us! We're going to die!"
He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? You have such Then he got up and to the and the and it became completely calm.
The men were and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea do what he
When he arrived on the other side, in the of the two men controlled by evil spirits came out from among the to meet him. They were so violent that no one could travel that road.
They screamed, "What do you want with us, of Have you come here to torture us the
Some distance away, a large herd of was feeding.
The evil spirits him, "If you're going to drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."
He said to them, So they came out and went into the pigs, and the entire herd rushed down the steep bank into the and drowned.
The ran off, went into the town, and reported everything — including what had happened to the men controlled by evil spirits.
Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw they to their