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Matthew 8

Jesus displays authority over disease, the sea, and demons, while faith, fear, and rejection mark people’s responses to him.

Jesus comes down from the mountain with crowds following him, then heals people who approach him and others brought to him. In Capernaum, a centurion’s trust draws his praise and a warning about exclusion from the kingdom. Matthew connects the healings to Isaiah’s words about bearing disease. Jesus then speaks about the cost of following him, calms a storm before his frightened disciples, and casts demons out of two men. The nearby city asks him to leave.

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1When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
3Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him for help,
6saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”
7Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel.
11I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,
12but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
14When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever.
15He touched her hand, and the fever left her. So she got up and served him.
16When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,
17that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
18Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.
19A scribe came and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
21Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”
22But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
23When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
24Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves; but he was asleep.
25The disciples came to him and woke him up, saying, “Save us, Lord! We are dying!”
26He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
28When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.
29Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
30Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them.
31The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”
32He said to them, “Go!” They came out and went into the herd of pigs; and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water.
33Those who fed them fled and went away into the city and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons.
34Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Matthew 8:26Jesus confronts his disciples’ fear and commands the storm, leaving them to ask what kind of man he is.
Matthew 8:17Matthew identifies Jesus’ healings as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words about taking human infirmities and bearing diseases.
Matthew 8:11The centurion’s faith introduces Jesus’ promise that people from distant lands will share the kingdom’s feast with Israel’s patriarchs.
Where this chapter reaches

Mark and Luke recount several of the same events, including the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and the calming of the storm; Psalm also speaks of God calming stormy waters. Matthew quotes Isaiah’s words about bearing infirmities and diseases to explain Jesus’ acts of healing.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does the centurion’s trust compare with the disciples’ fear, and where do you recognize either response?

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What do Jesus’ words to the two would-be followers raise about the cost of following him?

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Questions people ask about Matthew 8

What does Jesus mean by “leave the dead to bury their own dead”?

Jesus answers a disciple who wants to bury his father before following him. The command makes following Jesus urgent, even alongside a weighty family duty. The first use of “dead” is commonly understood as spiritual, while the second concerns physical death. The passage does not say whether the father has died.

Does Matthew 8:17 promise that every Christian will be healed now?

Matthew connects Isaiah’s words about infirmities and diseases to the healings Jesus performs that evening. Those healings show his authority and fulfill the prophet’s words. The verse reports what Jesus did for those brought to him; it does not state that every believer will receive healing before death.

Why did Jesus send the demons into the pigs?

The demons ask permission to enter the pigs, and Jesus grants it with a command. The herd then rushes into the sea and dies. Matthew does not explain why Jesus permits this outcome. The account shows that the demons recognize his authority and fear a coming time of torment.

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What the Bible says about fear →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).