Matthew 8:1-4 - A Leper Cleansed

¹ And when He had come down from the mountain [See 5:1], large crowds followed Him. ² Just then a person with an infectious skin disease came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, you can heal me."

³ Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man, saying, "I do want to; you are healed." And immediately his infectious skin disease was healed. ⁴ Jesus said to him, "Be sure you do not tell anyone [about your healing yet]; but [first] go and show yourself to the priest and then offer the [sacrificial] gift required by the law of Moses [See Lev. 13:49; 14:2ff], as evidence to them [that you have been healed]."

⁴⁰ Then a person with an infectious skin disease came to Jesus and, kneeling down before Him, begged Him, saying, "If you want to, you can heal me." [Note: Throughout this narrative the term "heal/healing" is originally "clean/cleansing" because the Jews viewed a person with such a disease as ceremonially "unclean." See Lev. 13:1-3].

⁴¹ And being moved with deep pity, Jesus reached out His hand, touched him and said, "I do want to; be healed." ⁴² And immediately the infectious skin disease left him and he was healed. ⁴³ Jesus sternly warned him, sending him directly out, ⁴⁴ and saying to him, "Make sure you do not say anything to anyone. But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your healing with whatever Moses ordered [Lev. 14:1-9], as evidence to people [that you were completely healed]." ⁴⁵ But [instead] the man went out telling everyone about the miracle of healing and spreading the story widely, so that Jesus was not able to enter a town publicly but had to remain outside in deserted places. [So], people went to Him there from all over the region.

¹² And it happened while Jesus was in one of the towns [i.e., surrounding Lake Galilee], that a man covered with an infectious skin disease appeared and, when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face [to the ground] and begged Him, saying, "If you want to, you can heal me." [Note: Throughout this narrative the terms "heal/healing" are originally "clean/cleansing" because the Jews viewed a person with such a disease as ceremonially "unclean." See Lev. 13:1-3].

¹³ Then He reached out His hand and touched the man, saying, "I [do] want to; be healed." And immediately the infectious skin disease left him. ¹⁴ Then He ordered the man not to tell anyone [about the healing], saying, "Go on your way and show yourself to the priest and offer the proper sacrifice for your healing that Moses required [Lev. 13:49; 14:2ff] as evidence to people [that you were healed]."

¹⁵ But the news about what Jesus had done spread all the more widely, so that large crowds assembled to listen to Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ So, He went away to deserted places and prayed.