1And when he entered Capernaum again after some days, it was heard that he was at home.
2And so many gathered that there was no longer room, not even near the door, and he was speaking the word to them.
3And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
4And since they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. And after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
5And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts,
7“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they were reasoning this way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?
9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’?
10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—
11“I say to you, get up, take your mat, and go to your home.”
12And he got up, and immediately took up the mat and went out before all of them, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
13He went out again beside the sea, and the whole crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.
14And as he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
15And as Jesus was reclining at the table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were also reclining with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16And when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17And when Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
18Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And some people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
19And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
20But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new patch pulls away from the old, and a worse tear is made.
22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are lost. But new wine is for new wineskins.”
23And it happened that on the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.
24And the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:
26how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and also gave it to those who were with him?”
27And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Open in the interactive reader →