1Soon after this, Jesus went through the cities and towns. He told the people Gods word about the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve disciples were with him. 2Some women were also with him. They had bad spirits and had been sick. But they had been healed. One was Mary, called Magdalene. Seven bad spirits had gone out of her. 3Another one was Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who worked for Herod. Another one was Susanna. And there were many others who gave what they could to help him. 4Many people came to him from many towns. Then he told them a story. 5He said, A man went out to sow his seed. As he sowed it, some seed fell on the road. People stepped on the seed. Birds ate it. 6Some seed fell on the stony ground. It grew but soon died because the place was too dry. 7Some seed fell among the weeds. The weeds grew up and made the new plants die. 8But some seed fell on good ground and it grew well. Those plants gave a hundred times as much grain as the man sowed. When Jesus had said this, he called out, Everyone who has ears to hear, listen! 9His disciples asked Jesus what this story meant. 10He said to them, You can learn the secret things about the kingdom of God. But other people must have stories. They will look, but they will not see. They will hear, but they will not understand. 11Now here is what the story means. The seed is Gods word. 12Some seeds fell on the road. They are like the people who hear the word of God. Then the devil comes and takes the word out of their hearts. He does not want them to believe and be saved. 13Some seeds fell on the stones. They are like people who are glad when they hear the word. But it does not go down deep into their hearts. They believe for a short time. But when they have trouble they stop believing. 14Some seeds fell among the weeds. They are like people who hear the word. But they think about the things of this world. They want to get money and things to be happy in this life. As they go on in life, these things push the message out of their hearts and no good comes from them. 15Some seeds fell on good ground. They are like people who hear the word and remember it. Their hearts are honest and good. These people keep on believing, and much good comes from them. 16No person lights a lamp and covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed. But he puts it on the place for a lamp. Then people who come in can see the light. 17Everything that is hidden will be seen. Everything that is secret will be known and come out to be seen. 18So take care how you listen. Anyone who has something will get more. But he who does not have anything, even the little that he has will be taken away from him. 19The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him. They could not reach him because there were so many people around him. 20Someone told him, Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to talk to you. 21But he said to them, These people who hear the word of God and do it, they are my mother and my brothers. 22One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples. He said to them, Let us cross over to the other side of the sea. So they started out. 23While they were going, Jesus was sleeping. A bad storm came on the sea. Water was coming into the boat, and they were in trouble. 24The disciples came to Jesus and woke him. They shouted, Master! Master! We will die! Jesus woke and said to the wind and the water, Stop! They stopped. Then all was quiet 25He said to the disciples, Why do you not believe God? They were afraid and surprised. They said to each other, What kind of man is this? He tells the wind and the sea what to do and they obey him. 26They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarene people. Their country is on the other side of the sea from Galilee. 27As Jesus got out of the boat a man met him from the town. He had bad spirits in him. He had not worn clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house, but among the graves. 28When he saw Jesus, he screamed loudly and bowed down in front of him. He called out loud, Jesus, Son of the Highest One! What do you want to do to me? I beg you, do not hurt me. 29He said this because Jesus had told the bad spirit to come out of the man. Many times the spirit had taken hold of the man. People had guarded him. They had tied him with chains and strong ropes. But he broke the chains and ropes. The bad spirit drove him into the desert. 30Jesus asked him, What is your name? He answered, My name is An Army. He said this because many bad spirits had gone into him. 31The spirits begged Jesus not to send them away to the big hole that has no bottom. 32Many pigs were feeding on the hill there. The spirits begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs. Jesus let them. 33The spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs. They ran fast down the steep hill into the sea. They died in the water. 34The men who cared for the pigs saw what happened. They ran and told it to the people in the town and in the country. 35The people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus. They saw the man from whom the bad spirits had gone. He was sitting near the feet of Jesus. He had clothes on and was not crazy any more. The people were afraid. 36Those who had seen it told the people how the man had been saved from the bad spirits. 37All the people in the country around the Gadarenes asked Jesus to go away from them to some other place. They were very much afraid. So Jesus got into a boat and went back. 38The man from whom the bad spirits had gone begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away. 39He said, Go home and tell the people what God has done for you. So the man went away and told the people all through the town what Jesus had done for him. 40When Jesus came back, the people were very glad to see him. They were all waiting for him. 41A man named Jairus came to him. He was a ruler in the meeting house. He bowed down in front of Jesus and begged him to come to his house. 42He had only one daughter She was about twelve years old. And she was dying. Many people went with Jesus and pushed against him. 43A woman among them had a sickness for twelve years. She was bleeding all the time. She had given all her money to the doctors, but no one had been able to heal her. 44She came behind Jesus and touched his clothes. The bleeding stopped right away. 45Jesus said, Who touched me? Everyone said, Not I! Peter said, Master, the people are all around you and push you. 46But Jesus said, Someone touched me. I know that power to heal went out from me. 47The woman saw that he knew about her. So she came trembling and bowed down in front of him. She told him in front of all the people why she had touched him. She told him that she had been healed right away. 48Jesus said to her, Daughter, you were healed because you believed. Go and do not be troubled. 49While he was still talking, a man came from the rulers house. He said, Your daughter has died. Do not trouble the Teacher any more. 50Jesus heard it. He said, Do not fear. Only believe and she will be healed. 51When Jesus came to the house, he did not let the people go in with him. The only people he let go in were Peter, John and James, and the girls father and mother. 52All the people were crying and making a lot of noise because she had died. But he said, Do not cry. She is not dead, but sleeping. 53They laughed at him because they knew she was dead. 54He took her hand and called out, Little girl, get up. 55Her life came back and she got up right away. He told them to give her something to eat. 56Her parents were very much surprised. Jesus said, Do not tell anyone what has happened.