Luke 5
Worldwide English (New Testament)
5 The people came close around Jesus to hear God's word. He was standing by Lake Gennesaret [the Sea of Galilee].
2 He saw two boats by the water. The fishermen were not in their boats. They were washing their nets.
3 Jesus got into one of the boats. It was Simon's boat. Jesus asked him to put the boat out into the water a little way from the land. Then he sat down in the boat and taught the people.
4 When he stopped talking, he said to Simon, `Put the boat out into deep water and let down your nets to catch some fish.'
5 Simon answered, `Master, we worked hard all night and did not catch anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.'
6 When they did this, they caught many fish. Their nets were so full they were breaking.
7 They called their friends in the other boat to come and help them. They came. They filled both boats with so much fish, they began to go down.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he kneeled down in front of Jesus. He said, `Lord, leave me because I am a bad man!'
9 He was very much surprised to see how many fish they had caught. All those who were with him were surprised too.
10 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were helping Simon. They were surprised also. Jesus said to Simon, `Do not fear. From now on your work will be to catch men.'
11 They brought their boats to the land. Then they left everything and went with Jesus.
12 Jesus was in one of the cities and a man was there who had leprosy, a bad skin disease. When he saw Jesus, he bowed his face to the ground. He begged Jesus saying, `Sir, I know you can heal me if you want to.'
13 Jesus put out his hand and touched the man. He said, `I want you to be healed.' Right away the man was free from leprosy.
14 Jesus said to him, `Do not tell anyone about this. But go and let the priest look at you. Moses gave a law about the sacrifice you must give when you are healed. Give it to prove to the people that you are healed.'
15 But more people heard about Jesus than before. And many people gathered to hear him, and so be healed.
16 Many times Jesus went away to the desert and talked with God.
17 One day Jesus was teaching people. Pharisees and other Jewish teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every town in Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem. Jesus had the power of the Lord to heal the sick.
18 Some men brought a sick man on his bed. The man could not move his arms or legs. They tried to bring him in and put him in front of Jesus.
19 But they could not get in the house where Jesus was, because there were so many people. So they went up on the roof. Then through a hole in the roof they let down the bed with the sick man on it, until he was in front of Jesus.
20 Jesus saw that they believed he would be healed. So he said to him, `Man, the wrong things you have done are forgiven.'
21 The scribes and Pharisees began to talk about this. They said, `Who is this man that is not giving respect to God? No one but God can forgive anyone for the wrong things they have done.'
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said, `Why do you think these wrong things in your hearts?
23 Which is easier, to say, "The wrong things you have done are forgiven," or to say, "Get up and walk"?
24 I want you to know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive wrong things people have done.' So he said to the sick man, `I tell you, get up. Take up your bed and go home.'
25 Right away the man stood up in front of them. He took up his bed and went home praising God.
26 The people were all surprised and they praised God. They did not know what to think. They said, `We have seen things today that are hard to believe.'
27 After this, Jesus went out. He saw a tax collector named Levi. Levi was sitting at the place where people came to pay taxes. Jesus said to him `Come with me.'
28 Levi left everything. He stood up and went with Jesus.
29 Levi made a big dinner at his house for Jesus. Many tax collectors and other people were sitting at the table with them.
30 The Pharisees and their scribes did not like what Jesus' disciples did. They said, `Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and bad people?"
31 Jesus answered them, `People who are well do not need a doctor. But sick people need him.
32 I did not come to call good people. I came to call bad people to stop doing wrong things.'
33 They said to him, `The disciples or followers of John are often fasting [not eating for a time], and they talk with God. The disciples of the Pharisees do the same. But your disciples eat and drink.'
34 Then Jesus said to them, `The people at a wedding cannot be sad while the man who is married is with them.
35 But the time will come when he will be taken away from them. Then they will be fasting at that time.'
36 Jesus told them a short story. He said, `No one takes a piece from a new coat and sews it on an old coat. If he does, the new coat will have a hole. And the new piece will not be like the old coat.
37 No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will break the skins. The wine will be lost and the skins will be spoiled.
38 New wine must be put into new skins.
39 No one wants to drink new wine after he has had old wine. He says, "The old is better." '
Luke 5
J.B. Phillips New Testament
Simon, James and John become Jesus’ followers
5 1-3 One day the people were crowding closely round Jesus to hear God’s message, as he stood on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. Jesus noticed two boats drawn up on the beach, for the fishermen had left them there while they were cleaning their nets. He went aboard one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and continued his teaching of the crowds from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Push out now into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon replied, “Master! We’ve worked all night and never caught a thing, but if you say so, I’ll let the nets down.”
6-8 And when they had done this, they caught an enormous shoal of fish—so big that the nets began to tear. So they signalled to their friends in the other boats to come and help them. They came and filled both the boats to sinking point. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said, “Keep away from me, Lord, for I’m only a sinful man!”
9-10 For he and his companions (including Zebedee’s sons, James and John, Simon’s partners) were staggered at the haul of fish that they had made. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid, Simon. From now on your catch will be men.”
11 So they brought the boats ashore, left everything and followed him.
Jesus cures leprosy
12 While he was in one of the towns, Jesus came upon a man who was a mass of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he prostrated himself before him and begged, “If you want to, Lord, you can make me clean.”
13 Jesus stretched out his hand, placed it on the leper, saying, “Certainly I want to. Be clean!”
14 Immediately the leprosy left him and Jesus warned him not to tell anybody, but to go and show himself to the priest and to make the offerings for his recovery that Moses prescribed, as evidence to the authorities.
15-16 Yet the news about him spread all the more, and enormous crowds collected to hear Jesus and to be healed of their diseases. But he slipped quietly away to deserted places for prayer.
Jesus cures a paralytic in soul and body
17-20 One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and experts in the Law were sitting near him. They had come out of every village in Galilee and Judea as well as from Jerusalem. God’s power to heal people was with him. Soon some men arrived carrying a paralytic and they kept trying to carry him in to put him down in front of Jesus. When they failed to find a way of getting him in because of the dense crowd, they went up on to the top of the house and let him down, bed and all, through the tiles, into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to argue about this, saying, “Who is this man who talks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins? Only God can do that.”
22 Jesus realised what was going on in their minds and spoke straight to them.
23-24 “Why must you argue like this in your minds? Which do you suppose is easier—to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But to make you realise that the Son of Man has full authority on earth to forgive sins—I tell you,” he said to the man who was paralysed, “get up, pick up your bed and go home!”
25-26 Instantly the man sprang to his feet before their eyes, picked up the bedding on which he used to lie, and went off home, praising God. Sheer amazement gripped every man present, and they praised God and said in awed voices, “We have seen incredible things today.”
Jesus calls Levi to be his disciple
27 Later on, Jesus went out and looked straight at a tax-collector called Levi, as he sat at his office desk. “Follow me,” he said to him.
28 And he got to his feet at once, left everything behind and followed him.
29-30 Then Levi gave a big reception for Jesus in his own house, and there was a great crowd of tax-collectors and others at table with them. The Pharisees and their companions the scribes kept muttering indignantly about this to Jesus’ disciples, saying, “Why do you have your meals with tax-collectors and sinners?”
31-32 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but those who are ill. I have not come to invite the ‘righteous’ but the ‘sinners’—to change their ways.
Jesus hints at who he is
33 Then people said to him, “Why is it that John’s disciples are always fasting and praying, just like the Pharisees’ disciples, but yours both eat and drink?”
34-35 Jesus answered, “Can you expect wedding-guests to fast while they have the bridegroom with them? The day will come when they will lose the bridegroom; that will be the time for them to fast!”
36 Then he gave them this illustration. “Nobody tears a piece from a new coat to patch up an old one. If he does, he ruins the new one and the new piece does not match the old.
37-39 “Nobody puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins—the wine will be spilt and the skins ruined. No, new wine must be put into new wineskins. Of course, nobody who has been drinking old wine will want the new at once. He is sure to say, ‘The old is a good sound wine.’”
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The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.