Jesus Forces Out an Evil Spirit

31 Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and on the Sabbath day, he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33 In the synagogue a man who had within him an evil spirit shouted in a loud voice, 34 “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!”

35 Jesus commanded the evil spirit, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down to the ground before all the people and then left the man without hurting him.

36 The people were amazed and said to each other, “What does this mean? With authority and power he commands evil spirits, and they come out.” 37 And so the news about Jesus spread to every place in the whole area.

Jesus Heals Many People

38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. n Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 He came to her side and commanded the fever to leave. It left her, and immediately she got up and began serving them.

40 When the sun went down, the people brought those who were sick to Jesus. Putting his hands on each sick person, he healed every one of them. 41 Demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But Jesus commanded the demons and would not allow them to speak, because they knew Jesus was the Christ.

42 At daybreak, Jesus went to a lonely place, but the people looked for him. When they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving. 43 But Jesus said to them, “I must preach about God’s kingdom to other towns, too. This is why I was sent.”

44 Then he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. n