Matthew 8:22 - Plain English Version22 Jesus said to him, “No. You come and follow me now. You see, some people are spiritually dead, so they can bury the dead bodies of their own people. But you come and follow me.” (We have not yet translated 8:23—9:26. You can read those stories in Mark 2:1-22; 4:35-41; 5:1-43.) Ver CapítuloMás versionesKing James Version (Oxford) 176922 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. Ver CapítuloAmplified Bible - Classic Edition22 But Jesus said to him, Follow Me, and leave the dead [in sin] to bury their own dead. Ver CapítuloAmerican Standard Version (1901)22 But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead. Ver CapítuloCommon English Bible22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Ver CapítuloCatholic Public Domain Version22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and allow the dead to bury their dead." Ver Capítulo |
You did bad things before. Your spirits still had that bad part that made you go wrong. It is like your spirits were dead. I will use picture talk to show you what I mean. Whenever you did bad things, it is like somebody wrote it down on paper so they could blame you later. But God let them blame Jesus instead of you, and then God chucked that paper away. It is like he nailed that paper to the cross when he let people nail Jesus there. And then God made your spirits alive again, just like he made Jesus alive again. Now he doesn’t blame you for the bad things you did.
At that time, the Roman people were the bosses over all that country, and they got some Jewish people to take tax money from the other Jewish people and give it to the Roman government. One of those tax men was called Levi, and his father’s name was Alfius. Jesus walked along, and he saw Levi and said to him, “I want you to be one of my followers. Come on, follow me.” And straight away, Levi stood up and went with Jesus.