Mark 5:9-40

⁹Jesus asked the man, “What is your name?” He said, “My name is Big Mob. You see, we are a mob of bad spirits inside this man.

¹⁰Please don’t send us away from this country.”

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.

²³He strongly asked Jesus to help his daughter. He said, “My little girl is really sick and I think she will die. Please come and put your hands on her. I know you can make her better so that she will not die.”

²⁴Jesus listened to the man and started to go with him. The big mob of people followed them. They came up really close and pushed up against him Jesus, all around him.

²⁵While they were walking along, a sick woman was there. A long time before this she started bleeding and that bleeding didn’t stop.

²⁶She went to every doctor but none of them could help her. She spent all her money trying to get better, but it was no good, she only got worse. She kept bleeding for 12 years.

²⁷Then somebody told her about Jesus and she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his coat, I will get better.” So she came up behind Jesus and touched his coat

²⁹and straight away her bleeding stopped. She knew she was better.

³⁰Jesus knew straight away that power went out from him, so he stopped walking, turned around and asked the people, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹Jesus’s followers said, “There are big mobs of people here pushing up against you. Why do you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ Lots of people touched you.”

³²Jesus kept on looking around to see the person that used his power.

³³That woman knew that she was the one that got better, so she was very frightened and she was shaking. She came to Jesus and got down on her knees in front of him, to show him respect, and she told him her story. She told him that she touched him.

³⁴Jesus said to her, “Dear Lady, you really believed in me, so now you are better. You can go home and have no more trouble. You are not sick any more.”

³⁵While Jesus was talking to the woman, somebody came to Jairus from his house with bad news. He said, “I’m sorry, it’s too late. Your little girl is dead. Don’t worry Jesus now.”

³⁶Jesus heard their words but took no notice. He said to Jairus, “Don’t be frightened. Just trust me.”

³⁷Then Jesus told the people, “Stay away from this man’s house.” He only let a few people go with him. They were the girl’s father and mother, and Peter, and James and his young brother John. They were the only ones that went with him.

³⁸They got close to the house, and Jesus heard other people inside it making a big noise. They were crying and shouting aloud for that dead girl.

³⁹Jesus went into the house and asked them, “Why are you making all this noise? That little girl isn’t dead. She is just asleep.”

⁴⁰They knew the girl was dead, so they just laughed at Jesus. He told them, “Get out,” and he forced them all outside the house. Then Jesus said to the girl’s mother and father, and to his 3 friends, “You come with me.” Then they went together into the room where the girl lay.