13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.

14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.

15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.

16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?

17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

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13 [Jesus] went out again along the seashore; and all the multitude kept gathering about Him, and He kept teaching them.

14 And as He was passing by, He saw Levi (Matthew) son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, Follow Me! [Be [a]joined to Me as a disciple, side with My party!] And he arose and joined Him as His disciple and sided with His party and accompanied Him.

15 And as Jesus, together with His disciples, sat at table in his [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and persons [[b]definitely stained] with sin were dining with Him, for there were many who walked the same road (followed) with Him.

16 And the scribes [belonging to the party] of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with [those [c]definitely known to be especially wicked] sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and [notorious] sinners?

17 And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners (the [d]erring ones and [e]all those not free from sin).

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 2:14 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
  2. Mark 2:15 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
  3. Mark 2:16 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
  4. Mark 2:17 Robert Young, Analytical Concordance to the Bible.
  5. Mark 2:17 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.

13 Then Jesus went out to the seashore again and preached to the crowds that gathered around him. 14 As he was walking up the beach he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at his tax collection booth. “Come with me,” Jesus told him. “Come be my disciple.”

And Levi jumped to his feet and went along.

15 That night Levi invited his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners to be his dinner guests so that they could meet Jesus and his disciples. (There were many men of this type among the crowds that followed him.) 16 But when some of the Jewish religious leaders[a] saw him eating with these men of ill repute, they said to his disciples, “How can he stand it, to eat with such scum?”

17 When Jesus heard what they were saying, he told them, “Sick people need the doctor, not healthy ones! I haven’t come to tell good people to repent, but the bad ones.”

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 2:16 the Jewish religious leaders, literally, “the scribes of the Pharisees.”