1 Shortly afterwards he went travelling from one town and village to another preaching and telling the good news of the Reign of God; he was accompanied by the twelve
2 and by some women who had been healed of evil spirits and illnesses, Mary called Magdalene (out of whom seven daemons had been driven),
3 Joanna the wife of Chuza the chancellor of Herod, Susanna, and a number of others, who ministered to him out of their means.
4 As a large crowd was gathering and as people were resorting to him from town after town, he addressed them in a parable.
5 "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the road and was trampled down, and the wild birds ate it up;
6 some other seed dropped on the rock, but it withered away when it sprang up because it had no moisture;
7 some other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up along with it and choked it;
8 some other seed fell on sound soil, and springing up bore a crop, a hundredfold." When he said this he called out, "He who has an ear, let him listen to this."
9 The disciples questioned him about the meaning of the parable;
10 so he said, "It is granted you to understand the open secrets of the Reign of God, but the others get it in parables, so that for all their seeing they may not see, and for all their hearing they may not understand.
11 This is what the parable means. The seed is the word of God.
12 Those 'on the road' are people who hear; but then the devil comes and carries off the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.
13 Those 'on the rock' are people who on hearing the word welcome it with enthusiasm, but they have no root; they believe for a while and fall away in the hour of trial.
14 As for the seed that fell among thorns, that means people who hear but who go and get choked with worries and money and the pleasures of life, so that they never ripen.
15 As for the seed in the good soil, that means those who hear and hold fast the word in a good and sound heart and so bear fruit stedfastly.
16 No one lights a lamp and hides it under a vessel or puts it below the bed: he puts it on a stand so that those who come in can see the light.
17 For nothing is hidden that shall not be disclosed, nothing concealed that shall not be known and revealed.
18 So take care how you listen; for he who has, to him shall more be given, while as for him who has not, from him shall be taken even what he thinks he has."
19 His mother and brothers reached him but they were unable to join him for the crowd.
20 Word was brought to him that "your mother and brothers are standing outside; they wish to see you."
21 But he answered, "My mother and brothers are those who listen to the word of God and obey it."
22 It happened on one of these days that he embarked in a boat alone with his disciples and said to them, "Let us cross to the other side of the lake." So they set sail.
23 During the voyage he fell asleep. But when a gale of wind came down on the lake and they were being swamped and in peril,
24 they went and woke him up. "Master, master," they cried, "we are drowning!" So he woke up and checked the wind and the surf; they ceased and there was a calm.
25 Then he said to them, "Where is your faith?" They marvelled in awe, saying to one another, "Whatever can he be? He gives orders to the very winds and water, and they obey him!"
26 They put in at the country of the Gergesenes, on the shore facing Galilee.
27 As he stepped out on land he was met by a man from the town who had daemons in him; for a long while he had worn no clothing, and he stayed not in a house but among the tombs.
28 On catching sight of Jesus he shrieked aloud and prayed him with a loud cry, "Jesus, son of God most High, what business have you with me? Do not torture me, I beg of you."
29 (For he had charged the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many a time when it had seized hold of him, he had been fastened secure in fetters and chains, but he would snap his bonds and be driven by the daemon into the desert.)
30 So Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he said, for a number of daemons had entered him.
31 And they begged him not to order them off to the abyss.
32 Now a considerable drove of swine was grazing there on the hillside, so the daemons begged him for leave to enter them. He gave them leave,
33 and the daemons came out of the man and went into the swine; the drove rushed down the steep slope into the lake and were suffocated.
34 When the herdsmen saw what had occurred they fled and reported it to the town and the hamlets.
35 The people came out to see what had occurred and when they reached Jesus they discovered the man whom the daemons had left, seated at the feet of Jesus, clothed and sane. That frightened them.
36 They got a report from those who had seen how the lunatic was cured,
37 and then all the inhabitants of the surrounding country of the Gergesenes asked him to leave them, they were so seized with terror. He embarked in the boat and went back.
38 The man whom the daemons had left begged that he might accompany him. Jesus, however, sent him away, saying,
39 "Go home and describe all that God has done for you." So he went off to proclaim through the whole town all that Jesus had done for him.
40 On his return Jesus was welcomed by the crowd; they were all looking out for him.
41 A man called Jairus came, who was a president of the synagogue, and falling at the feet of Jesus entreated him to come to his house,
42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years old and she was dying. As Jesus went the crowds kept crushing him,
43 and a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years which no one could cure,
44 came up behind him and touched the tassel of his robe. Her hemorrhage instantly ceased.
45 Jesus said, "Who touched me?" As everyone denied it, Peter and his companions said, "Master, the crowds are all round you pressing hard!"
46 Jesus said, "Somebody did touch me, for I felt power had passed from me."
47 So when the woman saw she had not escaped notice, she came trembling, and falling down before him she told before all the people why she had touched him and how she had been instantly cured.
48 "Daughter," he said to her, "your faith has made you well; depart in peace."
49 He was still speaking when someone came from the house of the synagogue-president to say, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher any further."
50 But when Jesus heard it he said to him, "Have no fear, only believe and she shall get well."
51 When he reached the house he would not allow anyone to come in with him except Peter and James and John, and the child's father and mother.
52 Everyone was weeping and bewailing her, but he said, "Stop weeping; she is not dead but asleep."
53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
54 But he took her hand and called to her, "Rise, little girl."
55 And her spirit returned, she got up instantly, and he ordered them to give her something to eat.
56 Her parents were amazed, but he charged them not to tell anyone what had happened.