Jesus Calls the First Disciples

5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by ^(A)the lake of Gennesaret, ^2 (B)and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were ^(C)washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And ^(D)he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ^(E)“Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, ^(F)we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, ^(G)they enclosed a large number of fish, and ^(H)their nets were breaking. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. ^(I)And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ^(J)“Depart from me, for ^(K)I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”^{[a] 11} And when they had brought their boats to land, ^(L)they left everything and followed him.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

¹² While he was in one of the cities, ^(M)there came a man full of leprosy.^[b] And when he saw Jesus, he ^(N)fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, ^(O)if you will, you can make me clean.” ¹³ And Jesus^[c] stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And he charged him ^(P)to tell no one, but “go and show ^(Q)yourself to the priest, and ^(R)make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, ^(S)for a proof to them.” ^15 (T)But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. ¹⁶ But ^(U)he would withdraw to desolate places and ^(V)pray.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹⁷ On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and ^(W)teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And ^(X)the power of the Lord was with him to heal.^{[d] 18 (Y)}And behold, some men were bringing ^(Z)on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, ¹⁹ but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on ^(AA)the roof and let him down with his bed ^(AB)through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ And ^(AC)when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, ^(AD)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks ^(AE)blasphemies? ^(AF)Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² When Jesus ^(AG)perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that ^(AH)the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, ^(AI)glorifying God. ²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they ^(AJ)glorified God and were filled ^(AK)with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Jesus Calls Levi

^27 (AL)After this he went out and saw ^(AM)a tax collector named ^(AN)Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And ^(AO)leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company ^(AP)of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and ^(AQ)their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ^(AR)“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^32 (AS)I have not come to call the righteous ^(AT)but sinners ^(AU)to repentance.”

A Question About Fasting

³³ And they said to him, ^(AV)“The disciples of John ^(AW)fast often and ^(AX)offer prayers, ^(AY)and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, ^(AZ)“Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ^35 (BA)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(BB)then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old ^(BC)wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”^[e]

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

6 ^(BD)On a Sabbath,^[f] while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples ^(BE)plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. ² But some of the Pharisees said, ^(BF)“Why are you doing ^(BG)what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” ³ And Jesus answered them, ^(BH)“Have you not read ^(BI)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he entered the house of God and took and ate ^(BJ)the bread of the Presence, ^(BK)which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” ⁵ And he said to them, ^(BL)“The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

A Man with a Withered Hand

⁶ On another Sabbath, ^(BM)he entered the synagogue ^(BN)and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷ And the scribes and the Pharisees ^(BO)watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, ^(BP)so that they might find a reason to accuse him. ⁸ But ^(BQ)he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, ^(BR)is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And ^(BS)after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And ^(BT)he did so, and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they were filled with ^(BU)fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

The Twelve Apostles

¹² In these days ^(BV)he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. ¹³ And when day came, ^(BW)he called his disciples ^(BX)and ^(BY)chose from them twelve, whom he named ^(BZ)apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, ^(CA)whom he named Peter, and ^(CB)Andrew his brother, and ^(CC)James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and ^(CD)Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called ^(CE)the Zealot, ¹⁶ and ^(CF)Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Ministers to a Great Multitude

¹⁷ And ^(CG)he came down with them and stood on a level place, with ^(CH)a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of ^(CI)Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. ^(CJ)And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹ And all the crowd ^(CK)sought to touch him, for ^(CL)power came out from him and healed them all.

The Beatitudes

²⁰ And ^(CM)he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, ^(CN)and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for ^(CO)yours is the kingdom of God.

^21 (CP)“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

^(CQ)“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

²² “Blessed are you when ^(CR)people hate you and when they ^(CS)exclude you and revile you and ^(CT)spurn your name as evil, ^(CU)on account of the Son of Man! ^23 (CV)Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for ^(CW)so their fathers did to the prophets.

Jesus Pronounces Woes

^24 (CX)“But woe to you who are rich, ^(CY)for you ^(CZ)have received your consolation.

²⁵ “Woe to you who are full now, for ^(DA)you shall be hungry.

“Woe to ^(DB)you who laugh now, ^(DC)for you shall mourn and weep.

²⁶ “Woe to you, ^(DD)when all people speak well of you, for ^(DE)so their fathers did to ^(DF)the false prophets.

Love Your Enemies

²⁷ “But I say to you who hear, ^(DG)Love your enemies, ^(DH)do good to those who hate you, ^28 (DI)bless those who curse you, ^(DJ)pray for those who abuse you. ^29 (DK)To one who ^(DL)strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic^[g] either. ^30 (DM)Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. ³¹ And ^(DN)as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

^32 (DO)“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ And ^(DP)if you ^(DQ)lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. ³⁵ But ^(DR)love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and ^(DS)you will be sons of ^(DT)the Most High, for ^(DU)he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. ^36 (DV)Be merciful, even as ^(DW)your Father is merciful.

Judging Others

^37 (DX)(DY)“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; ^(DZ)forgive, and you will be forgiven; ^38 (EA)give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put ^(EB)into your lap. For ^(EC)with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

³⁹ He also told them a parable: ^(ED)“Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? ^40 (EE)A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is ^(EF)fully trained will be like his teacher. ^41 (EG)Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but ^(EH)do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³ “For ^(EI)no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, ⁴⁴ for ^(EJ)each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ^45 (EK)The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces ^(EL)evil, ^(EM)for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Build Your House on the Rock

^46 (EN)“Why ^(EO)do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? ^47 (EP)Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.^{[h] 49 (EQ)}But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and ^(ER)the ruin of that house was great.”

Love and Serve the Lord

11 ^(A)“You shall therefore love the Lord your God and ^(B)keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. ² And consider today (since I am not speaking to ^(C)your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline^[a] of the Lord your God, ^(D)his greatness, ^(E)his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, ^3 (F)his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land, ⁴ and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, ^(G)how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day, ⁵ and ^(H)what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place, ⁶ and ^(I)what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. ⁷ For your eyes have seen ^(J)all the great work of the Lord that he did.

⁸ “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may ^(K)be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, ⁹ and ^(L)that you may live long in the land ^(M)that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, ^(N)a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it,^[b] like a garden of vegetables. ^11 (O)But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, ¹² a land that the Lord your God cares for. ^(P)The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³ “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, ^(Q)to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ^14 (R)he^[c] will give the rain for your land in its season, ^(S)the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. ^15 (T)And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and ^(U)you shall eat and be full. ¹⁶ Take care ^(V)lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and ^(W)serve other gods and worship them; ¹⁷ then ^(X)the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he ^(Y)will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and ^(Z)you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

^18 (AA)“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and ^(AB)you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹ You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ^20 (AC)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ^21 (AD)that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, ^(AE)as long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² For if ^(AF)you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and ^(AG)holding fast to him, ²³ then the Lord ^(AH)will drive out all these nations before you, and you will ^(AI)dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. ^24 (AJ)Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be ^(AK)from the wilderness to^[d] the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. ^25 (AL)No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay ^(AM)the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, ^(AN)as he promised you.

^26 (AO)“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ^27 (AP)the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, ²⁸ and ^(AQ)the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, ^(AR)to go after other gods that you have not known. ²⁹ And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set ^(AS)the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the ^(AT)Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside ^(AU)the oak^[e] of Moreh? ³¹ For you are ^(AV)to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, ³² you shall be careful ^(AW)to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.

My Help and My Deliverer

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.