1So they came to the other side of the lake, to the region of the Gerasenes.
2Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met him.
3He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.
4For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
5Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
6When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him.
7Then he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God – do not torment me!”
8(For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!”)
9Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
10He begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region.
11There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding.
12And the demonic spirits begged him, “Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.”
13Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake.
14Now the herdsmen ran off and spread the news in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
15They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind – the one who had the “Legion” – and they were afraid.
16Those who had seen what had happened to the demon-possessed man reported it, and they also told about the pigs.
17Then they asked Jesus to leave their region.
18As he was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed asked if he could go with him.
19But Jesus did not permit him to do so. Instead, he said to him, “Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, that he had mercy on you.”
20So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him, and all were amazed.
Restoration and Healing
21When Jesus had crossed again in a boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea.
22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came up, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.
23He asked him urgently, “My little daughter is near death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be healed and live.”
24Jesus went with him, and a large crowd followed and pressed around him.
25Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years.
26She had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.
27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
28for she kept saying, “If only I touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
29At once the bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
30Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
31His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
32But he looked around to see who had done it.
33Then the woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.
34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
35While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher any longer?”
36But Jesus, paying no attention to what was said, told the synagogue ruler, “Do not be afraid; just believe.”
37He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
38They came to the house of the synagogue ruler where he saw noisy confusion and people weeping and wailing loudly.
39When he entered he said to them, “Why are you distressed and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”
40And they began making fun of him. But he put them all outside and he took the child’s father and mother and his own companions and went into the room where the child was.
41Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.”
42The girl got up at once and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). They were completely astonished at this.
43He strictly ordered that no one should know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.