Luke 8 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 28-30
Location
Galilee and surrounding regions, including towns around the Sea of Galilee and the Gerasene territory
Audience
Luke wrote for a primarily Gentile-Christian audience, though the events involve Jesus, his twelve disciples, supporting women, and diverse crowds in Jewish and Gentile regions
Situation
Jesus is in an intensive period of itinerant ministry, traveling through Galilean villages teaching in parables and performing miracles. This chapter shows Jesus with both his inner circle and large crowds, demonstrating his authority through teaching and supernatural acts.
Key Background
Galilee was under Roman occupation with Herod Antipas as tetrarch. The Sea of Galilee was central to regional life and economy, surrounded by Jewish towns on the western shore and Gentile territories to the east. Jesus's movement between Jewish and Gentile areas, his inclusion of women as financial supporters, and his confrontations with demonic forces would have been culturally significant and sometimes controversial to first-century audiences.
Soon afterward, Jesus traveled through towns and villages, the of The were with him,
along with some women who had been healed of and diseases: Mary (called from whom had been driven out;
Joanna (the wife of Herod's household manager), Susanna, and many others. These women were the out of their own resources.
A huge crowd was gathering, with people streaming in from town after town. So he told them this
"A went out to scatter seed. As he scattered it, some fell along the path and got trampled, and the birds ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, and when it sprouted, it dried up because it had no moisture.
Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up alongside it and choked it out.
But some fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced a more than what was planted." After saying this, he called out, "Whoever has to — listen!"
His asked him what this story meant.
He said, "You've been given the ability to understand the of God's kingdom. But for others, these come in stories — so that even though they see, they don't really see, and even though they hear, they don't really understand."
"Here's what the story means: The seed is
The ones along the path are people who hear, but then the comes and snatches the message from their hearts so they won't and be
The ones on rocky ground are people who hear the message and receive it with excitement. But they have no root — they trust for a while, but when they walk away.
The seed that fell among thorns — these are people who hear, but as they go through life, they get by worries, wealth, and pleasures, and they never produce anything that lasts.
But the seed on soil — these are people who hear the message, hold onto it with a and and through produce a harvest.
"Nobody lights a and then covers it with a jar or shoves it under a bed. No — you put it on a stand so that people coming in can see the light.
Because there is nothing hidden that won't eventually come to light, and nothing secret that won't eventually be known and brought out into the open.
So pay attention to how you listen. Because whoever has something will be given more, and whoever has nothing — even what they think they have will be taken away."
Then Jesus's mother and came to see him, but they couldn't get to him because of the crowd.
Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."
He answered them, "My mother and my brothers are the ones who hear and actually do it."
One day Jesus got into a boat with his followers and said to them, "Let's cross to the other side of the So they set out.
As they sailed, he fell asleep. Then a swept down on the lake, and the boat started taking on water. They were in real danger.
They went and woke him up, shouting, We're going to drown!" He got up, to the wind and the raging waves, and they stopped. Everything went completely calm.
Then he said to them, "Where is your Shaken and amazed, they said to each other, "Who IS this? He gives orders to wind and water, and they actually obey him!"
They sailed on to the region of the which is across the lake from Galilee.
When Jesus stepped onto shore, a man from the town met him who was by For a long time he had worn no clothes and didn't live in a house but among the
When he saw Jesus, he screamed, fell down in front of him, and shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, of the Most I'm begging you, don't torture me!"
He said this because Jesus had commanded the to come out of the man. It had seized him many times, and even though he'd been chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he'd snap the chains and the demon would drive him into desolate places.
Jesus asked him, "What's your name?" he said — because many demons had entered him.
And they kept begging him not to order them into the
There was a large herd of feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them enter the and he gave them permission.
So the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the whole herd stampeded down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
When the men tending the pigs saw what happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and the surrounding countryside.
People came out to see what had happened. When they got to Jesus, they found the man the demons had left — sitting at dressed, and And they were terrified.
The eyewitnesses told them how the demon-possessed man had been
Then all the people from the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave, because they were overwhelmed with fear. So he got back in the boat and returned.
The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,
"Go back home and the of everything God has done for you." So the man went and told the whole town everything Jesus had done for him.
When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him back, because they had all been waiting for him.
Then a man named came — he was a of the He fell at Jesus's feet and begged him to come to his house,
because his only about twelve years old, was dying. As Jesus made his way there, the crowds pressed in on him from every side.
In the crowd was a woman who had been for She had spent everything she had on doctors, but no one could heal her.
She came up behind Jesus and touched the of Instantly, her bleeding stopped.
"Who touched me?" Jesus asked. When everyone denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowd is pressing in on you from every direction."
But Jesus said, "Someone touched me. I felt go out from me."
When the woman realized she couldn't hide, she came forward and fell at his feet. In front of everyone, she told him why she had touched him and how she had been healed instantly.
He said to her, your has you. Go in
While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader's house and said, "Your daughter is dead. Don't bother the anymore."
When Jesus heard this, he told Jairus, "Don't be afraid. Just and she will be