Jesus Cleanses a Leper

^40 (A)And a leper^[a] came to him, imploring him, and ^(B)kneeling said to him, ^(C)“If you will, you can make me clean.” ⁴¹ Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” ⁴² And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³ And ^(D)Jesus^[b] sternly charged him and sent him away at once, ⁴⁴ and said to him, ^(E)“See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, ^(F)show yourself to the priest and ^(G)offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, ^(H)for a proof to them.” ^45 (I)But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter ^(J)a town, but was out in ^(K)desolate places, and ^(L)people were coming to him from every quarter.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

2 And when he returned to ^(M)Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ² And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. ^3 (N)And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. ⁴ And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, ^(O)they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵ And when Jesus ^(P)saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, ^(Q)your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak like that? ^(R)He is blaspheming! ^(S)Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸ And immediately Jesus, ^(T)perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰ But that you may know that ^(U)the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— ¹¹ “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” ¹² And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and ^(V)glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Levi

¹³ He went out again beside the sea, and ^(W)all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ^14 (X)And as he passed by, he saw ^(Y)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many ^(Z)tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And ^(AA)the scribes of^[c] the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ^(AB)“Why does he eat^[d] with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^(AC)I came not to call the righteous, ^(AD)but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸ Now ^(AE)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^(AF)“Why do John's disciples and ^(AG)the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, ^(AH)“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ^20 (AI)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(AJ)then they will fast in that day. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old ^(AK)wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”^[e]

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

^23 (AL)One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples ^(AM)began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, ^(AN)why are they doing ^(AO)what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And he said to them, ^(AP)“Have you never read ^(AQ)what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶ how he entered the house of God, in the time of^{[f] (AR)}Abiathar the high priest, and ate ^(AS)the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ And he said to them, ^(AT)“The Sabbath was made for man, ^(AU)not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So ^(AV)the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

A Man with a Withered Hand

3 ^(AW)Again ^(AX)he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. ² And ^(AY)they watched Jesus,^[g] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³ And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” ⁴ And he said to them, ^(AZ)“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵ And he ^(BA)looked around at them with anger, grieved at ^(BB)their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” ^(BC)He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ^6 (BD)The Pharisees went out and immediately ^(BE)held counsel with ^(BF)the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

^7 (BG)Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and ^(BH)a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea ⁸ and Jerusalem and ^(BI)Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around ^(BJ)Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. ⁹ And he told his disciples to ^(BK)have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they ^(BL)crush him, ¹⁰ for ^(BM)he had healed many, so that all who had ^(BN)diseases pressed around him ^(BO)to touch him. ^11 (BP)And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they ^(BQ)fell down before him and cried out, “You are ^(BR)the Son of God.” ¹² And ^(BS)he strictly ordered them not to make him known.