Mark 5:11-22

¹¹There were about 2,000 pigs having a feed on the hill nearby.

¹²The bad spirits asked Jesus, “Can we go into that big mob of pigs over there?”

¹³Jesus let those bad spirits go out of the man and go into the pigs. Then those pigs went mad and ran down the steep hill into the lake and drowned themselves in the water.

¹⁴The men that looked after the pigs were frightened and they ran back to their community and told everyone what happened. They talked to the people in the town and the people that lived outside of the town too. A lot of people wanted to see for themselves,

¹⁵so they ran out to that place where Jesus was. They saw that man sitting down quiet and wearing clothes. He wasn’t mad any more. Then those people got frightened.

¹⁶The men that looked after the pigs told them the whole story about the man and the pigs.

¹⁷Then all that mob started to ask Jesus strongly to go away from their country and leave them alone.

¹⁸Jesus listened to them and started to get into the boat. Then the man, that used to have the bad spirits in him, asked Jesus strongly, “Can I come with you?”

¹⁹Jesus said, “No, I want you to go back to your family and to your own mob. I want you to tell everybody about the good things God did for you. Tell them that God was really good to you.”

²⁰Then that man went all over that country called Ten Towns and told everybody that story. He told them all about the good things Jesus did for him. Everybody got a really big surprise.

²¹Jesus and his followers got back into the boat and went to the other side of the lake. A really big mob of people was waiting for them there beside the water.

²²A man called Jairus came up to them. He was one of the bosses of a Jewish meeting place. He saw Jesus and went close to him and got down on his knees in front of him, to show him respect.