Psalm 8^[a]

For the director of music. According to gittith.^[b] A psalm of David.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord^(A) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean^(B) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings^(C) on it. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma^(D) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground^(E) because of humans, even though^[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.^(F) And never again will I destroy^(G) all living creatures,^(H) as I have done.

God’s Covenant With Noah

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.^{(L) 2} The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.^{(M) 3} Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.^(N) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.^(O)

⁴ “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.^{(P) 5} And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.^(Q) I will demand an accounting from every animal.^(R) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.^(S)

⁷ As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”^(V)

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you^(W) and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant^(X) with you:^(Y) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.^(Z)”

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant^(AA) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:^{(AB) 13} I have set my rainbow^(AC) in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow^(AD) appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant^(AE) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.^{(AF) 16} Whenever the rainbow^(AG) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant^(AH) between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant^(AI) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

The Sons of Noah

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.^(AJ) (Ham was the father of Canaan.)^{(AK) 19} These were the three sons of Noah,^(AL) and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.^(AM)

9 All Israel^(A) was listed in the genealogies recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. They were taken captive to Babylon^(B) because of their unfaithfulness.^(C)

The People in Jerusalem^(D)

² Now the first to resettle on their own property in their own towns^(E) were some Israelites, priests, Levites and temple servants.^(F)

³ Those from Judah, from Benjamin, and from Ephraim and Manasseh who lived in Jerusalem were:

²² Altogether, those chosen to be gatekeepers^(P) at the thresholds numbered 212. They were registered by genealogy in their villages. The gatekeepers had been assigned to their positions of trust by David and Samuel the seer.^{(Q) 23} They and their descendants were in charge of guarding the gates of the house of the Lord—the house called the tent of meeting. ²⁴ The gatekeepers were on the four sides: east, west, north and south. ²⁵ Their fellow Levites in their villages had to come from time to time and share their duties for seven-day^(R) periods. ²⁶ But the four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasuries^(S) in the house of God. ²⁷ They would spend the night stationed around the house of God,^(T) because they had to guard it; and they had charge of the key^(U) for opening it each morning.

²⁸ Some of them were in charge of the articles used in the temple service; they counted them when they were brought in and when they were taken out. ²⁹ Others were assigned to take care of the furnishings and all the other articles of the sanctuary,^(V) as well as the special flour and wine, and the olive oil, incense and spices. ³⁰ But some^(W) of the priests took care of mixing the spices. ³¹ A Levite named Mattithiah, the firstborn son of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with the responsibility for baking the offering bread. ³² Some of the Kohathites, their fellow Levites, were in charge of preparing for every Sabbath the bread set out on the table.^(X)

³³ Those who were musicians,^(Y) heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night.^(Z)

³⁴ All these were heads of Levite families, chiefs as listed in their genealogy, and they lived in Jerusalem.

The Genealogy of Saul^(AA)

Jesus Calls His First Disciples^(A)

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,^[a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God.^{(B) 2} He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.^(C)

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”^(D)

⁵ Simon answered, “Master,^(E) we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.^(F) But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.^{(G) 7} So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”^{(H) 9} For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid;^(I) from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.^(J)

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy^(K)

¹² While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.^[b](L) When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

¹³ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴ Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone,^(M) but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded^(N) for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵ Yet the news about him spread all the more,^(O) so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.^(P)

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man^(Q)

¹⁷ One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law^(R) were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.^{(S) 18} Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”^(T)

²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”^(U)

²² Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But I want you to know that the Son of Man^(V) has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. ²⁶ Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God.^(W) They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners^(X)

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,”^(Y) Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.^(Z)

²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors^(AA) and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect^(AB) complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”^(AC)

³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”^(AD)

Jesus Questioned About Fasting^(AE)

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples^(AF) often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom^(AG) fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them;^(AH) in those days they will fast.”

³⁶ He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(AI)

6 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.^{(AJ) 2} Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”^(AK)

³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(AL) 4} He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat.^(AM) And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man^(AN) is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶ On another Sabbath^(AO) he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. ⁷ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely^(AP) to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.^{(AQ) 8} But Jesus knew what they were thinking^(AR) and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. ¹¹ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious^(AS) and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

The Twelve Apostles^(AT)

¹² One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.^{(AU) 13} When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:^{(AV) 14} Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew,^(AW) Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.