Jesus Heals Many People

²⁹Jesus and the followers left the synagogue.* They all went with James and John to the home of Simon* and Andrew. ³⁰Simon's mother-in-law was very sick. She was in bed and had fever. The people there told Jesus about her. ³¹So Jesus went to her bed. Jesus held her hand and helped her stand up. The fever left her, and she was healed. Then she began serving them. ³²That night, after the sun went down, the people brought many sick people to Jesus. They also brought people that had demons* inside them. ³³All the people in the town gathered at the door of that house. ³⁴Jesus healed many people that had different kinds of sicknesses. Jesus also forced many demons to leave people. But Jesus would not allow the demons to speak, because the demons knew who he was.*

Jesus Prepares to Tell the Good News

³⁵The next morning, Jesus woke up very early. Jesus left the house while it was still dark. He went to a place to be alone and pray. ³⁶Later, Simon* and his friends went to look for Jesus. ³⁷They found Jesus and said, "All the people are looking for you!" ³⁸Jesus answered, "We should go to another place. We can go to other towns around here. Then I can tell people [God's message] in those places also. That is why I came." ³⁹So Jesus traveled everywhere in Galilee. He spoke in the synagogues.* And he forced demons* to leave people.

Jesus Heals a Sick Man

⁴⁰A man that had leprosy* came to Jesus. The man bowed on his knees and begged Jesus, "You have the power to heal me if you want." ⁴¹Jesus felt sorry for the man. So Jesus touched the man and said, "I want to heal you. Be healed!" ⁴²Then the sickness left the man, and he was healed. ⁴³Jesus told the man to go. But Jesus warned him strongly. Jesus said, ⁴⁴"Don't tell any person about what I did for you. But go and show yourself to the priest. And offer a gift to God because you have been healed. Offer the gift that Moses commanded.* This will show the people that you are healed." ⁴⁵The man left there and told all the people he saw that Jesus had healed him. So the news about Jesus spread. And that is why Jesus could not enter a town if people saw him. Jesus stayed in places where people did not live. But people came from all the towns to the places where Jesus was.

synagogue(s) Synagogues were places where Jews gathered for prayer, study of the Scriptures, and other public meetings. Simon Simon's other name was Peter. demon(s) Demons are evil spirits from the devil. who he was The demons knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. leprosy A very bad skin disease. Moses commanded See Lev. 14:1-32.