Mark 5

EasyEnglish Bible

A man with many bad spirits

5 Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the lake. They came to a place where the Gerasene people lived.^[a]

^2-4 Jesus got out of the boat. Immediately, a man with a bad spirit in him came to him. This man lived outside, among some graves. He was very strong and nobody could hold him. People often put chains around his ankles to hold him. They wanted to keep him in a safe place. But he broke the chains that held him. ⁵ The man often walked in the place where the dead people were and on the hills. Every day and every night, he screamed and he used stones to cut himself.

⁶ He saw Jesus a long way away and he ran to meet him. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus. ⁷ He screamed loudly, ‘Jesus, you are the Son of the Most High God! What are you doing here? Please, promise God that you will not hurt me.’ ⁸ He said that because Jesus had already said to the bad spirit, ‘Come out of this man.’

⁹ Then Jesus asked the man, ‘What is your name?’

The man replied, ‘My name is Army because there are so many bad spirits in me.’

¹⁰ He said to Jesus many times, ‘Please do not send these bad spirits away from this place.’

¹¹ A large group of pigs was eating on the hill. ¹² The bad spirits said, ‘Jesus, send us to the pigs. Let us go into them.’ ¹³ Jesus let them do this. So the bad spirits came out of the man and they went into the pigs. There were about 2,000 pigs. They rushed together down the hill into the lake. All the pigs died there in the water.

¹⁴ The men who were taking care of these pigs ran away. They told the people in the town and in the villages what had happened. Then those people came to see the place for themselves. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus. They saw the man that the army of bad spirits had ruled. He was now sitting there quietly. He was wearing clothes and his mind was well again. When the people saw this, they were afraid. ¹⁶ The people who had seen this told other people what had happened to the man. They also explained what happened to the pigs. ¹⁷ Then the people who lived there said to Jesus, ‘Please go away. Leave this place.’

¹⁸ Jesus got back into the boat. The man that the bad spirits had ruled spoke to him. He told Jesus that he wanted to go with him. ¹⁹ But Jesus did not let him do this. Jesus said to him, ‘Go to your home and to your friends. Tell them what the Lord has done for you. Tell them how he has been kind to you.’ ²⁰ So the man went away. He began to speak to many people in the region called ‘The ten cities’. He told them about the great things that Jesus had done for him. All the people were very surprised.

Jesus makes a dead girl live

²¹ Jesus returned to the other side of the lake in the boat. While he was by the lake, a large crowd came to him. ²² A man called Jairus came to Jesus. He was a leader at the Jewish meeting place. When he saw Jesus, he went down on his knees in front of him. ²³ He said, ‘My little daughter is very ill and she will die very soon. Please come to my house and put your hands on her. Then she will be well and she will live.’ ²⁴ So Jesus went with Jairus.

A large crowd followed Jesus. The people were pushing against him. ²⁵ There was a sick woman who had lost blood for 12 years. ²⁶ She had paid many doctors to help her to become well. But they could not do anything. Now she had spent all her money. She had not become well. Instead, she was now worse. ²⁷ People had told her about Jesus. So she came in the crowd behind him and she touched his coat. ²⁸ She said, ‘Even if I can only touch his clothes, I will become well again.’ ²⁹ As soon as she touched Jesus' coat, the blood stopped. She felt in her body that her illness was better. She knew that she was well again.

³⁰ Jesus knew immediately that something powerful had gone out from him. So he turned around in the crowd and he asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’

³¹ His disciples replied, ‘You can see that the crowd is pushing against you. So you cannot ask who touched you!’

³² But Jesus looked around him. He wanted to see who had touched him. ³³ The woman knew what had happened to her. She felt very afraid. But she came to Jesus, and she went down on her knees in front of him. Then she told him everything that had happened to her. ³⁴ Jesus said to her, ‘Young woman, you are now well again because you believed in me. Have peace in your mind. Go now and have no more pain.’

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some men arrived from the house of Jairus. He was the leader at the Jews' meeting place. The men said to Jairus, ‘Your daughter is dead. Do not ask any longer for the teacher to come.’

³⁶ Jesus heard what the men said to Jairus. But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not be afraid. Instead, believe.’

³⁷ Jesus took only Peter, James and James's brother, John, with him. He would not let anyone else go with him. ³⁸ Then they came to Jairus's house. Jesus saw that there were many people there. They were crying and they were making a loud noise. ³⁹ Jesus went into the house and he said to the people, ‘You should not be weeping and making a noise. The child is not dead. She is asleep.’ ⁴⁰ The people laughed at Jesus when he said that.

Then Jesus sent them all out of the house. He went into the place where the child was lying. The child's father and mother went with him. He also took Peter, James and John with him. ⁴¹ Then Jesus held the girl's hand. He said to her, ‘Talitha koum.’ This means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, stand up!’^{[b] 42} The girl stood up immediately and she walked about. She was 12 years old. The people there were very surprised. ⁴³ Jesus said to them, ‘You must not tell anyone what has happened here. Now give the girl something to eat.’