Distresses Foretold

16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, ² “You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.” ³ For this is what the Lord says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their ^(A)mothers who give birth to them, and their ^(B)fathers who father them in this land: ⁴ “They will ^(C)die of deadly diseases, they ^(D)will not be mourned or buried; they will be like ^(E)dung on the surface of the ground. And they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the ^(F)birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”

⁵ For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house of ^(G)mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have ^(H)withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “and My ^(I)favor and compassion. ⁶ Both ^(J)great people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone ^(K)make cuts on himself or have his head ^(L)shaved for them. ⁷ People will not ^(M)break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother. ⁸ Moreover, you shall ^(N)not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.” ⁹ For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to ^(O)eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰ “Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘^(P)For what reason has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹ Then you are to say to them, ‘It is ^(Q)because your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed ^(R)other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law. ¹² You too have done evil, even ^(S)more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the ^(T)stubbornness of his own ^(U)evil heart, without listening to Me. ¹³ So I will ^(V)hurl you off this land to the ^(W)land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will ^(X)serve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.’

God Will Restore Them

¹⁴ “^(Y)Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who ^(Z)brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵ but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the ^(AA)land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶ “Behold, I am going to send for many ^(AB)fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will ^(AC)hunt them ^(AD)from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. ^17 (AE)For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, ^(AF)nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes. ¹⁸ I will first repay them ^(AG)double for their wrongdoing and their sin, because they have ^(AH)defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their ^(AI)detestable idols and their abominations.”

The Paralyzed Man Healed

2 When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, it was heard that He was at home. ² And ^(A)many were gathered together, so that there was no longer space, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. ^3 (B)And some people *came, bringing to Him a man who was ^(C)paralyzed, carried by four men. ⁴ And when they were unable to ^[a]get to Him because of the crowd, they ^(D)removed the roof ^[b]above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the ^(E)paralyzed man was lying. ⁵ And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, ^(F)your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! ^(G)Who can forgive sins except God alone?” ⁸ Immediately Jesus, aware ^[c]in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the ^(H)paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? ¹⁰ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.” ¹² And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^(I)were glorifying God, saying, “^(J)We have never seen anything like this!”

¹³ And He went out again by the seashore; and ^(K)all the ^[d]people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

^14 (L)As He passed by, He saw ^[e](M)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “^(N)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁵ And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and ^[f]sinners were ^[g]dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶ When ^(O)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the ^[h]sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^(P)Why is He eating with tax collectors and ^[i]sinners?” ¹⁷ And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^(Q)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18 (R)John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them, ^[j]the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the ^(S)days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, ^[k]the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Question of the Sabbath

^23 (T)And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^(U)picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^(V)why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the ^[l]time of ^(W)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the ^[m]consecrated bread, which ^(X)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ Jesus said to them, “^(Y)The Sabbath ^[n]was made ^[o]for man, and ^(Z)not man ^[p]for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”