Mác 5

A man called Legion

¹They reached the far side of the lake, the country of the Gerasenes.^{a 2}As soon as he stepped out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. ³This man lived among the tombs, and nobody could keep him tied up anymore, not even with a chain. ⁴Time and again he had been bound hand and foot with irons and chains, but he had pulled the chains apart and smashed the irons on his feet. No one had the strength to control him. ⁵Night and day, without stopping, he would scream among the tombs and on the hills and slash himself with stones. ⁶When he caught sight of Jesus a long way off, he ran up and threw himself down in front of him. ⁷He gave a loud shriek: “Jesus, Son of the Most High God, what have you to do with me? I beg you, with God as witness, do not torture me!” ⁸This was because Jesus had been telling it, “Unclean spirit, come out of this man!” ⁹Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He answered, “My name is Legion, since there are many of us.” ¹⁰He kept pleading with Jesus not to send them away out of that country. ¹¹A large herd of pigs happened to be grazing on the hillside nearby. ¹²The spirits pleaded with him, “Send us over to the pigs. Let us go into them.” ¹³He gave them leave. Out came the unclean spirits, and they went into the pigs. The whole herd, about 2,000 animals, stampeded down the steep slope into the lake and drowned there.

¹⁴The men tending the pigs ran off and spread the news in the town and on the farms, and people came out to see what had taken place. ¹⁵When they reached Jesus, they found the man the demons had held sitting there with clothes on and in his right mind, the very man who had been held by the legion. And they were afraid. ¹⁶Those who had seen it all told them what had happened to the man with the demons, and about the pigs too. ¹⁷Then they started pleading with Jesus to go away from their district. ¹⁸As Jesus stepped into the boat, the man freed from the demons pleaded to go along with him. ¹⁹But Jesus would not let him, and told him instead, “Go home to your own people, and let them know all that the Lord has done for you, and the mercy he has shown you.” ²⁰So he went off and started to tell all through the Decapolis the great things Jesus had done for him. Everyone who heard was astonished.

Jairus pleads for his daughter

²¹When Jesus had gone back across by boat, a large crowd gathered around him while he was still by the lake. ²²One of the leaders of the synagogue, a man named Jairus, came up. When he saw Jesus, he threw himself at his feet ²³and pleaded with him again and again. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and put your hands on her, so that she may get well and live.” ²⁴So Jesus set out with him.

Twelve years of bleeding

A huge crowd went along behind him, jostling him on every side. ²⁵In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶She had gone through a great deal at the hands of many doctors and had spent everything she owned. Instead of getting better, she had only grown worse. ²⁷She had heard about Jesus, so she made her way through the crowd and touched his cloak from behind. ²⁸She kept telling herself, “Even if all I touch is his clothes, I will be made well.” ²⁹At once her bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she was free of her suffering. ³⁰Right away Jesus knew within himself that power had gone out of him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” ³¹His disciples said to him, “You can see how the crowd is crushing in on you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” ³²But Jesus went on searching the faces around him for the one who had done it. ³³Then the woman, afraid and shaking, knowing what had been done for her, came forward, dropped down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴“Daughter,” he told her, “your faith has saved you and made you well. Go in peace, free of your suffering.”^b

Little girl, get up

³⁵While Jesus was still talking, some people arrived from the synagogue leader’s house. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “There is no need to bother the teacher any more.” ³⁶But Jesus paid no attention to what they said and told the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid. Just believe.”^{c 37}He would not let anyone come with him except Peter, James, and James’s brother John. ³⁸When they reached the synagogue leader’s house, Jesus saw an uproar, with people crying and howling in grief. ³⁹He went in and asked them, “Why all this noise and crying? The child is not dead. She is asleep.” ⁴⁰They laughed at him. But Jesus sent them all outside. Then he took the disciples who were with him and the child’s father and mother, and went into the room where the girl lay. ⁴¹He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I tell you, get up.” ⁴²At once the girl stood up and walked about, for she was twelve years old. Everyone was astounded on the spot. ⁴³Jesus gave them strict orders not to let anyone find out about this, and said she should be given food.